Rotorua's Audrey Gammon is looking forward to celebrating her 100th birthday with family tomorrow - most likely with a full face of makeup.
Mrs Gammon currently lives at Fergusson Home and staff said she was still relatively independent, having been at the home for about 10 years.
They say she has "a very supportive and big extended family".
Mrs Gammon was born in Te Awamutu, where her parents had a dairy farm.
She lived in Te Awamutu throughout her primary and intermediate school years, often riding horses to school.
She moved to Rotorua and attended high school in the city, and her parents had a farm on Old Taupo Rd.
Mrs Gammon was a registered nurse and had three brothers. She spent a number of years in Blenheim, moving there in 1994, before returning to Rotorua in 2004.
Mrs Gammon used to play golf and tennis, and was also a member of the Women's Institutes.
Staff said reading was a main hobby of Mrs Gammon's, and she still got books from the library every week, as well as having a subscription to the New Zealand House & Garden magazine.
She also used to enjoy playing Scrabble.
They said a quirk of hers was that she had to always be wearing her make-up.