Community & Business
20 February, 2026
Reg’s 95th birthday celebration at Felton
On Saturday, Reg Kessler celebrated his 95th birthday with family at his Felton home ‘Eastbourne’.
Reg’s story began in Toowoomba on 12 February 1931, when he was born to Frederick and Lydia Kessler.
As the eldest and only boy among five younger sisters - Dulcie, Lynette, Ailsa, Evol and Arlene - life would have been lively from the very beginning.
Sixteen years separate Reg from his youngest sibling, so he spent much of his youth not only as a big brother but as a steady guide to the sisters who looked up to him.
Reg’s schooling journey began at Cambooya and then Toowoomba Grammar before he transferred to Concordia College once it officially opened on 10 February 1946.
He was among the original 27 students who first enrolled there, largely made up of other German Lutheran families who had settled on the Darling Downs.
On 23 April 1966, Reg married Elva Lotz of Wyreema, beginning a new chapter centred on love and family.
Together they raised two children, Warren and Vicki.
Warren works at Eastbourne, while Vicki is a midwife from Kingsthorpe.
It was a joy to have three of Reg’s sisters join in the celebration on Saturday.
Dulcie and Ailsa were unable to attend but were certainly in everyone’s thoughts as this was the first family function without all the siblings together - just another reminder of the deep family bonds that have shaped Reg’s life.
He has spent all of his 95 years at Eastbourne on the Felton-Clifton Road where dedication to farming and family has defined the decades.
Throughout the years they’ve farmed cattle and grain, with egg production a more recent addition since 2000.
Today, four generations of Kesslers have played a part in the farming operations there.
This remarkable legacy of commitment and love makes Reg’s 95th birthday not just a celebration of years but of a life richly lived.
