Singing centenarian still does the hula
By MICHELLE COOKE - East And Bays Courier
MEANT TO BE: Mavis Alicia Scarborough says she has lived to 100 because it is “as God meant me to”.
Relevant offers
Mavis Alicia Scarboroughâs head tilts upwards and her eyes light up when she starts singing the song Canât Help Lovinâ Dat Man.
The Grace Joel Retirement Village resident, who turned 100 yesterday, says "marrying the right man" is the "most important" ingredient to a long, happy life.
Mavis and her late husband William Scarborough spent 18 years in Rarotonga, where Mavis lived a luxurious life filled with music, dance and art.
When she remembers a song from the islands, she remembers every word – and every dance movement.
"It comes naturally when you’re there all the time," she says.
Friends, family and staff at the St Heliers retirement village are used to her swaying her arms and demonstrating the hula dance she is so fond of.
She’s known as a creative soul, with a flair for fashion and a passion for poetry.
Born Mavis Alicia Sims, she was the fourth of seven children of Charles and Hilda Sims.
Building contracts for her father moved the family from Invercargill to Dunedin, where from a young age Mavis was involved in sports.
She was a school swimming champion at 10 and an Otago champion over the next 10 years.
She also represented Otago in hockey until a surprise visit to Auckland in her 20s enticed her to move to the big city.
Mavis and her older sister Hilda were offered positions at the French Consulate and it was while she was working there that she met Bill, an accomplished pianist.
It wasn’t just one thing she liked about him, it was "everything", she says.
Bill was quiet and reserved whereas Mavis has "never been shy".
They were married at St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Symonds St in 1935.
The couple never had any children but Mavis’ nephew Tony Scarborough says she often talks of their wonderful life together, and their travels to the United States.
Bill’s career in radio-telegraphy took them to Niue and Rarotonga.
When they returned to New Zealand Mavis pursued her interest in art, studying under Colin McCahon and friend Garth Tapper, and exhibited on several occasions.
After Bill died in 1992, Mavis moved from their home in Epsom to the Hibiscus Coast where she became known as Alicia, to avoid confusion with another Mavis in the retirement village.
She later moved to Remuera Gardens where she was closer to family and friends and two years ago, with failing eyesight and needing hospital care, she came to Grace Joel Retirement Village in St Heliers.
Her nephew visits her regularly and says although her sight is diminished her hearing is very good.
He enjoys her "quick wit, her interest in all that is going on, and her delightful bursts of singing and reciting of the poems she remembers so well".
