Ms Calvert celebrated becoming a centenarian at Ross Home in Dunedin’s North East Valley with family and friends yesterday.
While she was proud to reach 100, she said she did not feel any different yesterday than she did the day before.
Her niece, Hilary Calvert, said her aunt was not someone who made a lot of noise about being a strong feminist but she always supported the women in her family.
The sister to three brothers had been a role model to many of the women in her family and had helped them financially as well.
Ms Calvert said her aunt never married nor had children, so perhaps that was the secret to why she made it to 100 years old.
"She just wasn’t there when the men were given out."
Ms Calvert said her aunt still kept up with current affairs, as she liked to be in the know.
Born in Dunedin, Ms Calvert became the first librarian of the Hewitson Library at Knox College in 1955 after training as a deaconess from 1950 to 1953.
After working as a librarian for seven years she went to the United States.
During her 15 years in the US, she earned a master’s degree in theology from Princeton University, in New Jersey, and was ordained as a deaconess in the American Presbyterian Church.
She returned to New Zealand in 1978 and worked in a variety of roles including hospital chaplaincy and counselling before she retired in 1990.
Turning 100 was never an ambition for her, but she was "happy to be here", her niece said.
