Celebrating 'a very good life'

Tarras identity Sheila Anderson, now of Wanaka, with daughters Kate Anderson (left) and Spin...
Tarras identity Sheila Anderson, now of Wanaka, with daughters Kate Anderson (left) and Spin Lucas, both of Tarras, ahead of her 100th birthday celebrations today. Photo by Lucy Ibbotson.
Former Tarras matriarch Sheila Anderson, or "Grandma" as she is affectionately known to many, celebrates her 100th birthday today in Wanaka.

Despite her claim she "never did" like parties, Mrs Anderson (nee Malthus) said she was looking forward to seeing about 30 of her relatives and friends at a lunch in her honour, including most of of her 11 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren.

Mrs Anderson was born in Wellington as the second youngest of four children, and her first home was on Somes Island in the middle of the harbour, where her father was a lighthouse keeper.

She developed a lifelong love of the sea from a young age, living at several coastal locations, including Farewell Spit at the top of the South Island, Jacks Point near Timaru, Moeraki and Stephen's Island in Cook Strait, where she was home-schooled for five years.

Some of her fondest childhood memories - and funniest stories - are from her time at Stephen's Island, including owning a pet tuatara called Lizzie and shimmying to the top of the island's flagpole while assuring her panic-stricken father below that she was "just saying hello to God".

Mrs Anderson was educated at Timaru Girls' High School and Christchurch Teacher's College.

She taught at Green Island School in Dunedin, before beginning a stint in 1936 as a relief teacher in Tarras. There she met Bill Anderson. They married in 1938.

The couple lived at Mr Anderson's Maori Point farm, but later walked off the property and bought 1.6ha of former Morven Hill Station land, near the site of the old mud brick Tarras Post Office and Tarras Arms Hotel.

They prospered in the rabbit industry, before Mr Anderson became the school bus driver, a role he held for many years. The couple also ran a small poultry farm bought with Mrs Anderson's savings from her teaching jobs.

They had four children, P.L., of Mt Barker, Andy, of Cairns, and Kate Anderson and Spin Lucas, both of Tarras.

Her husband died in 1973. Mrs Anderson lived at their Tarras property until six years ago, when she shifted to Elmslie House rest-home in Wanaka.

Today's birthday celebrations will be held there.

Having spent nearly 70 years of her life in Tarras, Mrs Anderson was known to everyone there as "Grandma".

"Even to our school friends, she was always Grandma to them," her daughter Spin Lucas said.

Kate suspected her mother's longevity had something to do with one of her favourite sayings - "Moderation in all things".

Mrs Anderson said she had had a "very good life", and had no regrets about never having left New Zealand.

"I've never wanted to go," she said.

"She's always been happy with her lot; she's never hankered for overseas travel," Kate said.

"She's always been contented, never expected anything more from anyone than what she got, but she's not a doormat either."

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