Edith reaches 100th birthday milestone

Celebrating her special milestone with flowers, chocolates, lots of phone calls and even a card from King Charles, the Kāinga Ora customer remains proudly independent.

“I live on my own and cook my own meals. I eat breakfast sausages with lots of veges. Instead of tea or coffee I only drink hot water. I also do crosswords, hundreds of them, to keep the brain occupied.”

Edith says she has made a few mistakes here and there over the years.

“I thought ‘oh I like the look of that guy’ when I was younger and as soon as he got to like me, I dumped him,” she teases.

Kidding aside, she says she has lived a good and quiet life.

A younger Edith with the American icon Rock Hudson

Well, only quiet if you don’t count her years in North America in a country music band named Bust’d Flatt (she still loves to sing!) Or the time she met the legendary Hollywood actor, Rock Hudson because she knew his secretary.

She has treasured photographic evidence of both.

“That’s me and Rock Hudson a long, long time ago,” says Edith, pointing to the black and white image and launching into a lovely rendition of the 1960s classic song ‘Abeline’.

Edith was born in Kaitaia at the top of the North Island into a family of eight siblings. She went on to have four sons of her own.

As well as raising a big family, she enjoyed a busy career managing a clothing manufacturing company and later running an apartment building in Canada.

These days, life is a little slower, in her sunny, immaculate Kāinga Ora home which she’s lived in since 2007.

“The house I was in was sold suddenly and I thought ‘what will I do?’ But it worked out. Now I know my neighbours on each side and I really like living here.”

Royal recognition - Edith with her card from King Charles