The Post

Laughing all the way to 109

- Denise Piper

When asked the key to a long and happy life, Lena Walker 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, where Walker and her sister used to walk some distance each day to get a billy of milk. Walker even remembers World War I, as she had several uncles who took part in the Great War and managed to return.

As Walker’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.

But Walker 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, where Walker 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 for Walker included a visit from her great-great-granddaugh­ter, 2-yearold Harper Dhillon, as well as local schoolchil­dren.

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 ??  ?? Bay of Islands resident Lena Walker turned 109 yesterday, and celebrated with 109 people at her Haruru Falls aged-care home. Inset, Walker (nee Wilkinson) as a toddler.
Bay of Islands resident Lena Walker turned 109 yesterday, and celebrated with 109 people at her Haruru Falls aged-care home. Inset, Walker (nee Wilkinson) as a toddler.

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