Dunedin great-grandmother Dawn Ibbotson (95) was 13 years old when the magnificent Regent Theatre auditorium was built in 1928.
Now, the mother of three, grandmother of 10, and great-grandmother of 11, has stepped up to help the Regent Theatre in its hour of need.
With a donation of $2000 towards the "Help Save the Regent" campaign, Mrs Ibbotson has become a Silver Sponsor.
"The Regent is such an important part of our city, we can't let it go," Mrs Ibbotson said. "It has made too much of a contribution to the city to be lost."
Although Mrs Ibbotson rarely goes out at night these days, she recalls enjoying ballet performances and other shows at the Regent Theatre over the years.
"The Regent is a wonderful theatre that should be preserved."
A sprightly nonegenarian, with "no aches and pains", Mrs Ibbotson has been active in voluntary and governance organisations - particularly those which advocate for the empowerment of women - for much of her adult life.
She is a life member of the National Council of Women, a member of the Federation of Graduate Women, and is a staunch supporter of the New Horizons organisation, which provides women with a second chance at education.
She has served as co-convener of the Presbyterian Women Amnesty International group for 30 years, is a former member of the Otago Polytechnic council, was the first woman on the Dunedin Teacher's College council, and was deputy chair of the Knox College Council.
Along with her late husband, chartered accountant Arthur Ibbotson, she was a keen tramper and member of the New Zealand Alpine Club and was heavily involved in Otago Cricket.
The couple were married for 66 years.
For the past 25 years, Mrs Ibbotson has made and sold gift cards, using dried flowers from her garden, raising almost $60,000 for a variety of charitable organisations.
Her efforts earned her the title of NZ Gardener 2009 Otago Gardener of the Year.
