Betty Miller (nee Holden) marked the milestone on Saturday with friends and family at an afternoon tea at St Clair’s Home of St Barnabas Trust.
Mrs Miller said she never thought she would celebrate her 100th birthday,
"It just surprised me," she said.
"When they say 100, you think, that’s just a number. You can’t really realise that you’ve actually reached that number."
She was born in Dunedin on September 20, 1925 and grew up in North East Valley and South Dunedin, before moving to Kaitangata. Memories from her early years still stuck with her.
"The one thing I remember, and it sounds stupid now, but when I was at kindergarten at North East Valley, the teacher told us to close our eyes and we might hear the sound of a bird chirping," Mrs Miller said.
"But what did I do? I opened my eyes and ruined everything because I saw the teacher rubbing a cork up against a bottle.
"And I went home and told my mother, and she said, ‘well, that’s what happens when you don’t do as you’re told’."
After Mrs Miller left South Otago High School, she worked at the Ross and Glendining’s factory in Dunedin, hand sewing linings into coats, until she married.
Mrs Miller was married twice and had five children, although two children had sadly died.
She also had eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Before moving into St Barnabas’ about a year ago, she had been living independently.
Mrs Miller said she was not expecting a letter from King Charles, although she would have rather had one from his late mother, Queen Elizabeth.
