Mr Driver, who still lives at his home in Palmerston, south of Oamaru, said his family has a rich history in the Otago region — his great-grandfather Richard Driver was one of the earliest settlers to the region.
Richard came to Otago on a whaling ship and, while captaining a party off the shore of Whareakeake, he came under attack from local Māori, who took him captive, bringing him to Kāi Tahu chief Kahuti.
Moitoitoi, the daughter of Chief Kahuti, threw her cloak over him, claiming him and saving his life.
Richard and Moitoitoi ended up marrying and had three daughters.
"He was granted a land grant around the main street in Dunedin, and he gave it away for a bottle of whisky.
"I would’ve been a rich person," Mr Driver said with a laugh.
To celebrate Mr Driver turning 100 next Friday, friends, family and RSA members gathered at the RSA clubrooms in Palmerston last night.
"My daughter’s done it all. I’ve been kept in the dark," Mr Driver said.
Mr Driver has been a member of the RSA for the past 78 years and was made president of the Palmerston club in 2020.
He had many fond memories of the region, including walking his late wife Winifred Joyce Wieck to and from Saturday night dances at the school hall in Pūrākaunui before they married, he said.
"She was really as stupid as I was," he joked.
"All I can remember is her saying ‘dad thinks that we should get engaged’.
"So I got a ring and we had an engagement party."
The pair owned a general store in Andersons Bay.
"We’d sell the paper, the Otago Daily Times.
"The only problem was we had Woolworths starting up in Andy Bay and we had to sell it."
Mr Driver got into motorboats and built his own 21m cabin cruiser — he still has his original hand-drawn blueprints.
Not long before his wife died in 1989, she overcame her fear of flying and the pair travelled across Australia together.
Mr Driver said he spent his 21st birthday fighting in World War 2.
He joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force when he was 18 and spent three years serving in Fiji.
Before returning home, he had an accident where he was thrown from a Jeep that had come off the road.
"I don’t remember much of it. All I can remember is trying to grab something as the Jeep swerved, and I missed.
"Next I remember the doctors saying: ‘No more morphine — you’ll kill him’."
He said he never fully recovered after leaving the hospital in February 1946.
For him, his birthday felt like "just another day", but he was excited to receive his letter from the King, Mr Driver said.
"I fought for his dad, you know?"
