Jean Chitty at a lunch for her 100th birthday at Selwyn Park retirement village with her daughter Judith Byrne. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Jean Chitty at a lunch for her 100th birthday at Selwyn Park retirement village with her daughter Judith Byrne. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Jean Chitty might be 100 years old but she knows she loves netball, wishes she could still play cards and doesn't particularly like wrestling or John Key.
She doesn't remember the day that Great Britain declared war on Germany to start World War I - but then she was onlya few hours old having been born on August 4, 1914.
The sprightly Jean celebrated her birthday at Selwyn Park retirement village in Whangarei yesterday.
A wall of cards lined a table in the homestead, where family and friends gathered. Signatories included Peter Dunne, Phil Heatley, Governor-General Sir Jerry Mateparae, John Key and Her Majesty The Queen, who signed her card "Elizabeth".
Jean has five children, 14 grandchildren, 31 great-grandchildren and five great-great grandchildren.
Daughter of farmer William and teacher Gertrude Harper, Jean inherited her mother's love of education, a devotion that resulted in her becoming head girl at Pukekohe High in Auckland, where she met and fell in love with head boy Gilbert Chitty.
"We both loved our studying," she said when asked how Gilbert caught her eye.
Jean later discovered that Gilbert's father Joseph Chitty (26) had been killed in action during the first day of the Battle of Messines June 7, 1917.
