Turning 100 is a milestone few people reach, but for Nelson woman Ngaire Smith, family say it is the result of a life spent staying active, working hard and keeping connected with people.
Ngaire celebrated her 100th birthday on 25 May and is the first resident at Coastal View retirement village to reach the milestone.
Now living with dementia, Ngaire was unable to be interviewed herself, so her daughter Carole Krammer shared memories from her mother’s life.
Born in Blenheim, Ngaire spent much of her childhood moving around as her father followed work at timber mills.
“He went wherever the work was,” Carole explains.
The family eventually settled in Nelson, and Ngaire later met Joe Smith. The pair married in 1948 and built a life together.
Joe worked for Transport Nelson and was also a qualified bootmaker.
Ngaire and Joe built a home in Tāhunanui before later moving to Stoke. Joe passed away in 1999 and Ngaire eventually moved to Coastal View about 18 months ago.
Carole remembers her mother as someone who was “always a worker”.
Ngaire worked school hours in apple orchards in Stoke while raising Carole and her older sister.
“She used to go to work from 9am to 3pm, and me and my sister would go to school.”
Later, she worked as a sewing machinist.
“She eventually worked for a place called Talbot Interiors in Nelson and she made all the curtains and the bedspreads,” Carole says.
Outside work, Ngaire and Joe filled their time with indoor bowls, card games, tramping and travel.
“When we were quite young, we would often go to Tāhunanui School for card evenings,” Carole recalls.
After retiring, the couple travelled around New Zealand in their caravan.
“My sister and her family shifted to Ashburton, so they used to go down there a lot and have Christmas with their grandchildren.”
Carole believes her mother’s active lifestyle played a part in her reaching 100.
“She and dad used to do a lot of walking. I think they walked the Heaphy Track twice and they did the St James Walkway a number of times. They were always trampers,” she says.
“She liked knitting and she’d potter in the garden. She was a great reader, too.”
She says that her mother was also never a big drinker but “ate what she wanted”.
While dementia has changed Ngaire’s life in recent years, Carole says much of her mother’s personality remains the same.
“She’s always been outgoing, and she’s always very friendly. I remember the neighbours were always at our place, and she was always cooking and having people over for cups of tea.”
Her 100th birthday has been marked with cards from the King, the Prime Minister and the Nelson Mayor.
