Jennifer Williamson said she was very proud to receive it, adding:
‘‘I don't know that it's terribly deserved''.
‘‘But it is deserved in memory of all those women who helped out over the years.''
Mrs Williamson joins husband Ron as a life member. Mr Williamson was president of the club for 19 years, and remains involved on the committee.
Mrs Williamson's involvement with the club started in 1963, the year she and Mr Williamson married.
‘‘We've always come to the Kurow races - Ron held an amateur jockey's licence years ago and we've always loved racing,'' she said.
The Kurow races were a community event and she never missed a meeting, Mrs Williamson said. ‘‘It's the highlight of the year''.
‘‘It's where the community can gather - the community work and they look after it,'' she said.
‘‘At Ellerslie and Trentham they have paid staff and here, all these young men, who are mostly farmers and it's a hugely busy time of the year for them, do all this work to prepare the course and there's this huge camaraderie and they just love it.''
The Williamsons now live at Glenbrook Station, near Twizel, after a long history farming at Birchwood Station, in the Ahuriri Valley.
Their sons Simon and Henry have inherited their parents' interest in horses and the high country.
Simon Williamson, the Kurow Jockey Club president, said it was a ‘‘great pleasure'' to award the club's fourth life membership to his mother.
‘‘They've done an awful lot of work over the years,'' he said.
‘‘The game has changed a little over time. I remember as children here they used to run a committee lunch and all the ladies would do all the cooking ... It was always after the third or fourth race and I remember the work that went into that was enormous.''
The Kurow Jockey Club had got to where it was today because of people such as his mother, he said.
The club had been lucky with the weather for the annual meeting yesterday - the clouds looked threatening, but rain held off.
It was a big day for the Waitaki Valley and Mr Williamson estimated more than 3000 people turned out.
‘‘It's a great day. The weather is holding on, which is good, and there's a good crowd,'' he said at the meeting yesterday.
