Oldest New Zealand-born Kiwi laughs all the way to 109
When asked the key to a long and happy life, Lenawalker struggles to put her finger on the exact secret.
‘‘I’ve lived a long life, but I don’t think anything of it, at all,’’ the resident from Northland’s Bay of Islands said.
But it’s clear that fun and laughter – along with a good dose of exercise – have been important elements of her life for the past 109 years.
Walker’s contagious laughter and loud voice can be heard in the halls of her Haruru Falls, Paihia, rest home, where she celebrated her 109th birthday yesterday among 109 friends, family and school children.
‘‘I always laugh and people always say, ‘You laugh too much.’ My sister used to say, ‘Stop that noise,’ because she was older than me,’’ Walker said.
‘‘Oh yes, I walk everywhere ... [and] we used to love dancing.’’
Walker is believed to be the oldest living Kiwi who was born in New Zealand. There are just two other Kiwis older than her, who were born in Canada and Britain, respectively.
Her recall isn’t what it used to be, but Walker clearly remembers much of her childhood. Evelyn ‘‘Lena’’ Wilkinson was born on June 11, 1912, in the small Horowhenua town of Shannon. Her father was a mechanic, while her mother spent the evenings playing piano for the pictures.
With her older sister, Louisa, and younger brother, Basil, Walker attended Shannon School. ‘‘We couldn’t go to Palmerston North because mother and father wouldn’t have us travelling on the train every day,’’ she said.
The family lived on the edge of a family farm, wherewalker and her sister used to walk some distance each day to get a billy of milk. Walker even remembers Worldwar I, as she had several uncles who took part in the Greatwar and managed to return.
Aswalker’s family didn’t get a car until she was about 20, she used to walk everywhere, a habit that still endures today.
She worked in a shop then moved to Wellington to work as a seamstress.
Butwalker also continued to love music and dancing, and she met her husband, Vincent – or Vince – at a dance in Tauranga.
The couple wed a little later in life and, while they did not have any children of their own, she treated Vince’s two daughters and one son from his first marriage as her own.
They moved to Paihia in about 1970, wherewalker continued to live quite independently, until moving to a rest home at the age of 103.
Her birthday yesterday included a visit from the fire brigade but, fortunately, her 109 candles didn’t create too much of a bonfire.
Highlights forwalker included a visit from her great-great-granddaughter, 2-yearold Harper Dhillon, as well as local schoolchildren.
Tahi the one-legged kiwi, Wellington Zoo’s only resident kiwi, has died after a long illness. He had lived at the zoo for more than 15 years, unable to be released into the wild because of his missing leg. Zoo chief executive Karen Fifield said it was a huge blowfor zoo staff. He had been a part of the zoo longer than she had. ‘‘It has been awful for all of us, to see him deteriorate, even with the very best of veterinary care.’’ Tahi died on the veterinary table twoweeks ago, although plans had been finalised to euthanise him due to his continued health decline. Tahi, meaning ‘‘one’’ in te reo because of his one leg, arrived at the zoo after being found in an illegal leg-hold trap, otherwise known as a gin trap in Northland. At that stage he still had juvenile feathers, so the zoo team estimated hewas 20-25 years old when he died. Hewas the only permanent resident in The Twilight, Te Aoma¯hina, which is nowempty and will be closed for the foreseeable future.