GRAND OLD LADY

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 52, Issue 3273, 9 June 1943, Page 7

GRAND OLD LADY

MRS M. HOWELL, OF WHITIANGA

90TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATED

An old resident of Whitianga, Mrs Mary Howell, of Mahakirau, on June 4, 1943, celebrated her 90th birthday. Mrs Howell, who is remarkably agile for her ninety summers, has lived in the district of Whitianga for fifty, years, and many a story could, she tell of the developments and changes which the district has experienced. Mrs Howell, who came out to New Zealand at the age of 12 years, from Canada, first lived at Hahei, Mercury Bay, with her parents, Mr and Mrs Wigmore. Her young womanhood was spent at Hahei, and there she laid the foundation of her present good health. Residents of Whitianga calculate the distance from Hahei to Coroglen at about twenty miles. Mrs Howell used to, row in a small boat with her father the twenty miles from Hahei to Coroglen, and considered it no outstanding feat for those days.

After marrying Mr William Howell in Auckland, this grand old lady of the Peninsula returned to settle in Whitianga, and -brought into the world a family of eight children. ’Mr William Howell died three years ago, yet this lady of ninety still finds life absorbing and is quite happy actively pottering about the home where she lives with her daughter, Miss G. Howell. Mrs Howell, who has never experienced a visit from a doctor, suggests with quiet humour that her sound health is due to the fact that she has worked hard all her life.