Enid Rice on her 100th birthday with her card from King Charles and Queen Camilla.
Enid Rice on her 100th birthday with her card from King Charles and Queen Camilla.
Enid Rice is still basking in the glow of “a lovely day” after celebrating her 100th birthday last week, at Mt Herbert House in Waipukurau.
Enid, nee Groves, was born in Pahiatua in 1924, one of four children of Lillian (nee Parsons) and William Groves of The Terraces, Tinui.
When Enid was a child, her parents farmed in the Central Hawke’s Bay area and Enid went to Waipukurau School, before the family moved back to Pahiatua. She completed her education at Dannevirke High School then worked at Dunbar’s Motors in Dannevirke, where she met Trevor Rice, who was working for Hawke’s Bay Farmers.
The couple married in Pahiatua in 1948 and despite being from farming families, they made their home in town in Dannevirke, where they had twin sons Graham and Ken, daughter Pauline, then rounded out their family with youngest son Roy.
Roy remembers being too small to climb the front gate of their Dannevirke home. But the twins would scale the gate and head off - one to the left and one to the right.
Enid Rice with her descendants at her 100th birthday on June 28 - with her great-grandchildren wearing jerseys she knitted.
Roy says Enid would then have to decide which twin was likely to get into the most trouble, and chase that one first.
“She could really run,” Roy says.
In 1961 the family moved to Waipukurau, as Trevor was promoted within HB Farmers. Enid took up work at Bowman Beattie Motors and the children went to Waipukurau Primary School.
Trevor - having been a boxer and boxing coach in Dannevirke - coached at the CHB Boxing Club in Waipukurau. He was also a New Zealand referee and organised boxing tournaments.
Roy says despite her sons being keen boxers, Enid wouldn’t come to their fights.
“She didn’t like to see us fight and get hit. She came to one of my fights, but when I took a good hit she couldn’t cope.”
Roy recalls being in a major tournament but finding out the date clashed with his brother’s wedding.
“My father and the coach put their heads together - they organised me to fight in the morning, then I went to my brother’s wedding black eye and all, but couldn’t even eat much as I had to stay at fighting weight.
“CHB had one of the strongest boxing clubs in the North Island at the time - a lot of boxing champs came out of CHB.”
100-year-old Enid Rice with her great-great-grandson Enzo Luciano, aged 5 months.
Due to a further promotion for Trevor to HB Farmers manager in Napier, the family packed up and moved again, with the tireless Enid picking up a job at Easton Industries.
Enid says working full-time and bringing up her family was “just what you did”.
“Even when I first had the twins, there was no help back then. You just got on with it.”
Roy says he heard that phrase a lot when he was growing up.
“She came from an era when people had to do without and get by. She is the strongest person I know and she’d always say ‘you’ve just got to get on with it’.”
Getting on with it, for Enid, included knitting for the family - including grandchildren when they came along - and cooking “meals that melted in your mouth”, says granddaughter Nicole.
“She made the best Louise slice and neenish tarts, and she knitted blankets and booties and jerseys - she is just the best grandma.”
Enid and Trevor Rice with their family at their 50th wedding anniversary in 1998.
Somehow Enid also found time to play bowls, a way to make friends when the family moved to Napier.
“Between working and playing bowls I got to know people pretty quickly.”
Enid stayed in Napier after Trevor passed away in 2001, but in 2019 the family decided it was time she accepted some care for herself.
Roy says: “She has always been busy and always there for everyone. When we looked for a rest home, Mt Herbert was the only one with a place available. It was a blessing - it was where she had been to school and it was nearly like coming full circle.
“They look after her well, they’ve even introduced her to karaoke which she enjoys, and they were excellent when we held her 100th birthday party - we booked out the big front room and spilled out into the sunshine, it was great.”
Enid admits with 10 grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandson to entertain, the weather forecast worried her as the big day approached.
“The weather forecast was for rain and I thought ‘this will ruin everything’ but the sun came out and it was great. It was so good to see everybody, it was amazing.”
Enid even had her own caterer. Granddaughter Amy owns Kex Catering and happily fed the family, who came from all over the North Island and even from Australia to celebrate.
Enid is now resting from the excitement of her big day, surrounded by reminders: a big stack of cards from family and friends, and two special ones from Prime Minister Christopher Luxton and Their Majesties King Charles and Queen Camilla.
