May Donald, who turned 100 yesterday, with her newest great-great-grandchild, 3-week-old Baxter Cowley. Photo/Bevan Conley
May Donald, who turned 100 yesterday, with her newest great-great-grandchild, 3-week-old Baxter Cowley. Photo/Bevan Conley
May Donald of Marton reckons it's just good luck that she lived to see her 100th birthday.
Mrs Donald turned 100 yesterday and about 70 family members gathered at the Friendship Club Hall in Marton to throw a birthday party for her.
Mrs Donald doesn't have a family history oflongevity, and there's been nothing unusual in her life to suggest she'd reach triple figures.
"I think they're just not ready for me up there yet," she told the Wanganui Chronicle, pointing heavenward. Her daughter, Diane Donald, said her mother's birthday was a good chance for a family reunion.
"There are family here we haven't seen for ages. People have come from as far away as Australia."
Birthday cards included one from Queen Elizabeth II.
Mrs Donald was born Amelia May Signal in Patea, the third of six children. She married Harold Donald in 1933 and they had five children.
In the early years of their marriage they lived in New Plymouth, Wanganui, and Ohura, finally settled in Marton in 1942. She has family roots in the town - her grandfather was Robert Signal, one of the founders of Marton.
