Ada Andrew, front centre, surrounded by family on her 100th birthday.
There were plenty of smiles at Summerset Falls Retirement village in Warkworth on March 29, as family and friends gathered to celebrate Ada Andrew’s 100th birthday.
Ada says she puts her long life down to “being good”.
“I don’t drink, I don’t smoke. I love my family and they all love me,” she says.
Ada says one of her favourite pastimes these days is watching Parliament on TV, but she is regularly disappointed by the standard of dress among MPs.
She says men are supposed to be in dark suits and ties and women are supposed to wear jackets, but the speaker is letting standards slide.
“Trevor Mallard is a very knowledgeable person, but he’s always been a naughty boy,” she says.
It’s not the first time Ada has felt bound to rebuke the country’s politicians. She recalls calling former Prime Minister Sir Robert Muldoon on talkback radio and informing him he was completely wrong on the subject of school uniforms.
Other favourite memories include working in a milk bar in Otahuhu and garnering plenty of attention from American servicemen during World War II, racing around Panmure Basin in speedboats built by her late husband, Noel, and taking charge of the wardrobe department at South Auckland Theatre.
“We did such a lot of lovely shows,” she says.
Ada says her toughest time came when her husband died suddenly of a heart attack when she was 49.
“He was a wonderful husband and father,” she says.
Ada lived in her own home in Birkenhead and did her own cooking until two years ago, but moved to Summerset when her eyesight started to fail.
She says she has to be careful what she eats, lest she chokes, but the severe asthma that troubled her from childhood until her early fifties has completely gone, and her heart and lungs are clear.
Ada was especially pleased to get a card from the Queen on her birthday.
“There was a wonderful picture of her on the outside – looking as you would expect with her hat and handbag over her arm,” she says.
Ada also received cards from Auckland Mayor Phil Goff, Kaipara Ki Mahurangi MP Chris Penk and Governor-General Patsy Reddy.
