"There were five generations of us there (at the celebration). That's a lot of people," he said. The former dairy factory inspector lives in his own home in Rawene and is still a keen gardener. He is known for dahlias and tomatoes, but this year diversified into kumara.
He suspected his gardening days were drawing to a close, however.
"I'm getting old, and my eyesight is slipping. But you can expect that. They must be worn out," he said.
His family moved to Rawene in 1928, and apart from a break in 1937-50, the South Hokianga town has been home ever since. He has his lunch delivered and regular visits from staff at nearby Hokianga Hospital, but otherwise lives independently.
He almost certainly holds the record for the longest subscription to the Northern Advocate, but gave up his driver's licence at 99. He has no particular secret to longevity, but his father never smoked or drank, always worked in the garden, cooked for himself every day and ate plenty of vegetables.
Bill was born in Thames on April 4, 1912, and was a toddler when his father was sent to World War I. After the war his parents took over the Masonic Hotel in Tauranga, but his father, who never recovered from being gassed in the trenches, died a few years later.
His mother remarried, and the family ended up running the Masonic Hotel in Rawene. He married Nora Cochrane in 1934 and they had six children.
Bill worked in dairy factories around Northland - at Motukaraka, Kaeo, Te Hana and Maungatapere - until his mother-in-law's death in 1950 brought the family back to Rawene and the Parnell Street home where he has lived ever since.
He was offered a job as a dairy farm inspector, and spent the next nine years travelling around the Hokianga. Later he worked as a storeman for the Hokianga County Council, and finally for Rawene's general stores, driving to the railhead at Kaikohe to collect goods and deliver them around the South Hokianga.
He was a close friend of Hokianga ferry captain Bob Edwards, who later moved to Ngataki and had the distinction of being Northland's oldest man, and New Zealand's oldest driver, for many years. Bob died last year aged 109.
