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Jim Wilkins received cards from Prime Minister John Key and Queen Elizabeth II for his 100th birthday at Amberlea Rest Home.
Enjoying life is the secret to living to a ripe old age, says Jim Wilkins, who turned 100 this month.
Jim was playing golf until he was 97 and became a lifetime member of the Omaha Golf Club when he was 90.
“I’d go in a golf cart and play nine holes. I’d be lucky to see the ball now.”
He still enjoys driving his motor scooter to Snells Beach to watch the boats come and go, and reading cowboy books.
“You’ve got to live day to day and make the best of what you’ve got.”
Born in Cambridge in 1915 and raised in Te Puke, he worked as a dairy farmer and a butcher. He enlisted in the Mounted Rifles Brigade in Whitianga, but escaped serving overseas after falling from his horse during training.
He went on to work as a truck driver, builder, carpenter and sawmill worker.
His daughter, Claire Hunter, who lives in Snells Beach, says longevity is in his genes.
“We’ve looked back through the family tree and there have been a lot of people in their 80s and 90s, even during the 1800s.”
Jim celebrated his birthday at Amberlea Rest Home in Algies Bay with friends, family and well-wishers.
At the 2013 census there were six people over 100 in Rodney, the same number as in 2006 and 2001, but no 100 year olds in 1996. Nationwide there were 558 centenarians in 2013.
