Truly a birthday like no other

Frank Geddes celebrating his 100th birthday last week. Picture / Supplied

A 100th birthday will always be special, but Frank Geddes will have more than one reason to remember his as something out of the ordinary.

He wasn't going to let a Covid-19 lockdown stop him celebrating with his family, so on Thursday, despite the lockdown that prohibited visitors at Kamo's Jane Mander Retirement Village where he lives, he did just that, albeit via online video communication service Zoom.

The staff at Jane Mander also made sure it was done in style, with a big cake to accompany his cards from the Queen and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

Daughter Alison Geddes described her father as a survivor, and thriver. He survived the Spanish flu pandemic (from January 1918 to December 1920), the Great Depression, World War II, serving as a lieutenant in the British Navy, and now the global Covid-19 pandemic.

He had been disappointed though that his original plans for Thursday — to be surrounded by family and friends — had to be canned. He had, after all, been planning it for the past year. But, Alison said, he loved his Zoom birthday party, with family from around the world. Alison and her brother Peter logged in, along with his eight grandchildren and most of his 12 great-grandchildren, some joining the party from the US and the Netherlands (where it was 4am).

"It was lovely and it went really well," Alison said.

"Dad said he really enjoyed it. There was lots of banter between us, and Dad interjecting, and he was very happy to have the party."

Making it even more special was that one of his great-grandsons, who is 1, had just that morning learned to say a special word.

"So when he was asked whose birthday it was, he said 'Pappa.' That brought the house down. And the Jane Mander staff were just wonderful, bringing him a big cake and card and decorating the room."

While plans to see everybody at his birthday had been foiled, Alison said she had married recently, and most of the people who had been planning to be at the birthday attended the nuptials, so Frank at least caught up with them all then.

Frank was born at Whangape and spent most of his young life there, at Ōmāpere and in Kaitaia, attending Kaitaia District High School (now Kaitaia College). He was elected to the Mangonui County Council, Bay of Islands Power Board and various other public bodies, and was a Rotarian for more than 50 years.

He was also an active member of the Community Arts Society in Kaitaia, directing several plays for the Kaitaia Dramatic Society, was very involved in sheep dog trials in the 1950s and 1960s, and had two NZ champion dogs, was a Justice of the Peace and marriage celebrant, had been deeply involved with the National Party, and was the Hobson electorate chairman for many years.

He went to teachers' college, where he met his wife, Lorna. They married just as the war began, and he went overseas soon afterward.

On returning, he taught in Wellington, where Lorna was a PE lecturer at Wellington Teachers' Training College, before moving to the family farm at Whangape. Lorna died in 2006.