Iris scores her century

SAM BAKER/Manawatu Standard

BIRTHDAY GIRL: Inez Avenell, left, gives her mother, Iris Murray a hug. Mrs Murray turns 100 tomorrow.

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Manawatu's newest centenarian was excited to receive cards from Buckingham Palace and the Governor- General this morning.

Iris Murray turns 100 tomorrow and is spending the weekend with four generations of family, some flying in from Canada, to celebrate with her.

Mrs Murray was born in Invercargill in 1908. At a young age her parents moved the family to Palmerston North, where panel-beater father, Ernest Quicke, started E S Quicke and Sons in King Street. Mrs Murray couldn't remember the reason for the shift, but she did recall the fun she had as a child, playing in the snow down south.

"It was very cold and I remember making snowmen," she said.

"Mum went back down south a couple of years ago to see the house she grew up in," said Mrs Murray's daughter, Inez Avenell. "She couldn't find it and was horrified to learn it had been turned into a prison."

Mrs Murray and her siblings attended Westend School, Palmerston North, and the family lived at 179 Cook Street, which still stands today.

After leaving school, she worked for a tailor until she met her husband, electrician Kenneth Murray, through church.

They were married during the Depression at the Seventh Day Adventist church in Palmerston North and had four children.

Throughout their married life they raised their family in Dannevirke, Eketahuna and Pahiatua.

As the couple's four children came along, times were lean. Jobs were scarce and they struggled to make ends meet. They lived on brown bread and dates, and honey from her father Ernest's beehives.

Mr Murray eventually found employment at the railways.

"Every morning he would get up at dawn and cycle across the Gorge to Dannevirke for a weekly wage of 7/6pence," said Mrs Avenell.

Mr Murray found another job as a deer culler working for the government in the Tararuas and Ruahines. Mrs Avenell recalled those days well.

"Dad was gone for weeks on end," she said.

"Mum held the fort and kept the family together. She used to be a great seamstress before she was married, and that's where she learned the skills to sew for our family. She made all our clothes.

"I remember when Dad would walk through that door struggling under the weight of fresh venison and a head full of stories for us kids."

Mrs Murray kept busy, becoming an active member of the Pahiatua Womens' Institute [and still is a member today] and played the piano for the church.

"Mum played the piano right up until last year," said Mrs Avenell.

Mr Murray died in 1982, and five years ago, Mrs Murray moved from Pahiatua back to Palmerston North to live with her daughter and husband Ken.

She was in her 80s when she had her first motorbike ride and a jetboat trip on the Whanganui River.

"You should have seen her on the bike," said granddaughter Lisa Reed.

"Hooning down the road, her ears pinned back and hair flying, she loved it."

Iris Murray is somewhat bewildered as to why she has lived so long.

"I can't really believe that I'm 100 years old," she said.

"I think it's to do with good living. I never smoked or drank alcohol and always ate well.

"And here I still am."

- © Fairfax NZ News