100th birthday celebrations for family orientated Inglewood woman

Mavis was joined by multiple generations of her family as they celebrated her milestone birthday with her.

"The best thing I ever did was to have a family."

Mavis Taylor considers her family to be her greatest achievement in life, which is high praise indeed considering her life has spanned 10 decades.

Nearly 40 members of that family came together in Inglewood last month to celebrate her 100th birthday with a high tea, flowers from the Love Bunch florist, and plenty of happy memories to be shared, says her daughter Heather Goble.

While 36 members of her family joined her at the Inglewood Club for the afternoon, distance and Covid regulations didn't stop others from joining in as well with three of Mavis' grandchildren joining in by audiovisual link from their homes overseas.

"It was nice to see them all," says Mavis, who moved into Riverside Lifecare in New Plymouth 11 months ago.

Born in Manaia, she was the fourth child of 11 siblings and has spent all of her life in the region. Her earliest memories are of life on the family farm, she says.

"I remember getting the cows in, I was about 4 then."

She walked to school on most days, while her brothers rode their horses to school.

"It was about two miles the walk. I did it in all weather, I had to, mother had cows to milk so I had to walk."

Mavis was all smiles as she cut into her birthday cake.

She left school at 12 to help on the farm and look after her younger siblings, leaving home to marry her husband Richard (known as Dick) in 1947.

"He was a friend of my brother's, that's how we met."

The young couple began married life milking cows, buying their first dairy farm themselves in Inglewood in 1953. While Richard died at the age of 55, Mavis continued on farming with family members, sharemilking on it before it was leased for a while before it was eventually sold in 2015.

Mavis and Richard had seven children, and the family now spans into many more generations, with 12 grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren and seven great-great-grandchildren.

A display celebrating each decade of her life was on show at Mavis' birthday celebrations.

A lot has changed in her lifetime, says Mavis, and she is in no doubt life is a fair bit easier now than it was.

"Cars, phones, there's lots of things they have now."

She credits her own longevity to hard work she says, adding with a grin "and air, air helps".

She has certainly enjoyed good health over her lifetime, says Heather.

"She isn't on any medication and has only had one hospital stay in her lifetime."

She's always been active, still driving her own car and gardening her 1/4 acre section when she was 95 and has been involved with many clubs and groups over the years. She was in the Manaia Ladies Hockey Team in 1939 when they won the Taranaki championship, and was also an avid indoor bowls player - winning the Inglewood Division Champion of Champion Fours when she was 96 years old.

She's also been involved with the Durham Road CWI, the RSA Women's Section, the Rose Society and the Genealogy Society through the years.

"I like to be busy," she says.

Mavis likes to set herself goals and over the years she has achieved each one she has set herself, from travelling overseas, including climbing Ayers Rock, to enjoying helicopter and hot air balloon rides, she is always ready and willing to try new things.

Despite a life packed full of memories, Mavis doesn't have to pause to think when asked what she is proudest of.

"My family. We support each other in everything, I wouldn't change that for love or money."