Family celebrate Mum's house move after 76 years in her Whanganui home

Zona Carthy (centre) celebrates with family members (from left) Sue Rhodes, Brian Wingate, Darryl and Julie Thomas, Wendy Wingate, and Eileen and Brian Scott. Photo / Lewis Gardner

It is not every day that someone sells a home they have lived in for 76 years.

The vendor is Zona Carthy and, at 99, she is happy to move to Masonic Court in Whanganui East where she is enjoying the sunny gardens and the company.

"I like to sit in the garden and I roll up my trousers so I can get my legs brown," she said.

Carthy yesterday enjoyed a Mother's Day lunch at the Rutland Arms with her local family as well as her daughter Julie Thomas and Julie's husband Darryl who were visiting from their home in Riwaka near Motueka.

"Mum has been managing well with home support workers visiting and my cousins have been amazing," says Thomas.

"Wendy [Wingate], Eileen [Scott] and Sue [Rhodes] are like mum's other kids."

Thomas has an older brother living in Perth who hasn't been able to visit his mother since the advent of Covid-19 but Carthy talks to him online.

"We had a video chat with him before we came to lunch," Thomas said.

"It has been a bit sad for mum to leave the house we grew up in and where she has lived for so long.

"She moved there when dad was overseas during World War II and she made a nice home for him to come back to."

Despite the memories she is leaving behind, Thomas said her mother is happy to begin a new chapter.

"We will be coming back to Whanganui to celebrate Mum's 100th birthday in August," Thomas said.

Property Brokers Whanganui agent Vicky Todd said during her 15 years in the job, she had never met a vendor who had occupied their house that long.