Taranaki’s Audrey Cooper celebrates 102nd birthday with five generations of family

Audrey Cooper, 102, from Taranaki, says dancing, good food and hard work are the secrets to a long life.

Good food, good hard work and plenty of dancing is the secret to a long life according to Taranaki woman Audrey Cooper, who celebrated her 102nd birthday on Friday, April 26.

“Plenty of good food. No smoking and very little drink. Good hard work. Plenty of dancing and jigging and jogging. That’s living life.”

Cooper’s niece, Johanna Herbert, said her aunt has a joy for life.

“Audrey is a beautiful musician who has always loved music, parties and dance.”

While at a family wedding recently, her aunt declined the opportunity to go home before midnight.

“I’ll stay until 2 o’clock when the band finishes,” her aunt told her.

But 2am didn’t mean bedtime for Cooper, said Herbert.

“She was in bed at 3.30am chit-chatting with a very tired me about how wonderful the party had been. I’m a party girl, but she’s had more practice.”

Cooper was born Audrey Colson, the fourth of five children born to William and Elsie Colson who lived on Pembroke Rd, Stratford. When she was 21, she married Neil Cooper, with whom she had one son, Ian.

Her marriage to Neil was a true love story, said Herbert, who remembered her aunt’s response to a question at her 101st birthday celebration last year.

“A great-great-niece asked about her wedding ring. She responded with one of the most romantic statements one could ever hope to hear. Yes, she said. I got married on my 21st birthday, and today I am 101, so today we’ve been married for 80 years. It’s just that he hasn’t been around for 50 of them.”

Herbert said while Cooper’s husband died at the age of 51, “they have remained married ever since”, in her aunt’s heart.

Cooper’s birthday is the day after Anzac Day and she still remembers the horror of World War II.

“I was 17 when the war started. It was six terrible years. Losing men and women. They all went to defend New Zealand. It was a terrible war. I hope we never have another one.”

Life has changed a lot over the years, said Cooper.

“Everything changes. We came from horses and gigs and then into motor cars. Women used to stay home and look after the children and husbands. Then it all changed, and women had to go to work to pay for motor cars and help to pay for the house.”

Outings to the movies used to be a big thing, she said, but technology had changed that.

“We used to go out twice a week to the pictures. Once on a Wednesday and once on a Saturday. What a difference now, you just stay in your own home and watch all the pictures on telly. Everything that’s happening. You just press the button and away you go.”

Cooper celebrated her 102nd birthday this month with a family lunch involving five generations of her family. Herbert said her aunt was asked if she would consider celebrating her next birthday with a ride in her great-nephew’s helicopter.

“She said, ‘Oh yes, I’ve never been in a helicopter’.”

Today, Cooper lives in New Plymouth with her son Ian, just a short drive away from where she was born in Stratford, said Herbert.

“Taranaki born and still here 102 years later – now that’s Taranaki hardcore!”