Nola’s been Herald devotee for 80 years — and now she’s in it
Nola McKee can’t start her day unless she’s ticked off her NZ Herald crossword.
The puzzle page has been a part of McKee’s life for nearly as long as she’s been alive — and the Gisborne greatgrandmother turned 100 on March 31.
She celebrated her milestone birthday with family before being presented with the surprise cake by daughter Margaret and son Murray.
The family have been receiving the
Herald since they moved to Auckland when McKee was 5 and she has done the crossword every day for 80 years.
After meeting her late husband, Grant, and returning to Gisborne in 1947, her newspaper subscription continued.
“When I came to Gisborne, I still got the Herald, and now I’m in a retirement village and my Herald is in the letterbox by 7am every morning. I cannot have my breakfast without my
NZ Herald.
“I’m not being clever or anything, that’s my life. I get up, I get my Herald,
I sit and have my breakfast and do the crosswords. It’s just always been there.”
The cake — with the crossword filled with family names and birthday words — meant so much to her she was unable to cut through it.
“I won’t cut through the names, I get other people to cut it. It was my daughter’s idea, completely, and she got the heading and everything . . . I’m not sure how she went about it, but the actual crossword contains the names of every one of my family down to the great-grandchildren and there’s even one clue — plus one — which is a baby due in May.
“How she did it I don’t know . . . it must have taken forever.”
Margaret said she carried the surprise cake with her on the flight to Gisborne. And making it, fittingly, had been a piece of cake.
“It’s quite simple, it’s done on an Excel spreadsheet and it’s printed out on edible rice paper . . . nothing magical. It’s linked all the family together too because, of the five grandchildren, there’s only one in New Zealand.”
Nola McKee was born in Gisborne, schooled in Auckland and was a librarian at the Auckland public library in Wellesley St — now home to the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki — for about five years, before the move back to her hometown.
“I got married, raised a family, and I’m still here. It used to be very quiet, but now it’s been discovered so it’s come to life. Once the surfies got going, they all started to move.”
McKee was an avid tennis player, then golfer in later years.
“When I gave up tennis, because of my bifocal eyesight — you’d go to hit the ball and it wasn’t there — I took up golf. Loved it, loved the grass and the fresh air. I was a good club member . . . until I gave up with old age.”
The couple’s other child, David, worked as the New Zealand ambassador in Chile, but died of motor neuron disease in his early 50s.
Asked about the secret of getting to 100, McKee had no idea: “It’s just a number, it’s just happened. We did have a marvellous vegetable garden though.”
As for her party, McKee said she loved having the family together, especially catching up with her two of her six great-grandchildren, Scarlett and Jasper.
“I didn’t really want a fuss, but it’s been marvellous, so there we go.”