Feilding Nonagenarian

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 35, 11 February 1937, Page 10

Feilding Nonagenarian

MRS. MARIA CALVERT. Yesterday Mrs. Maria Elizabeth Calvert, of Kimbolton road, Feilding celebrated her 97th birthday, having been born in London on the day the late Queen Victoria was married. Her youth was spent in London and at Windsor and her memories include those concerning her attendance on Sundays at the services held in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor. Yesterday her home was visited by many friends and relations while greetings from many parts of the countryside were received. In 18G0 Mrs. Calvert, who.was then Miss Haselden, arrived at Auckland in the ship Mermaid with her parents and their nine other children. At Auckland Mrs. Calvert first lived, teaching privately, the other members of the family which later settled in various parts of the district. After her marriage to Mr. Calvert, who had also come to New Zealand in 18G0, the couple took up farming on a block along the Rangitikei river. It was 32 years ago that Mr. and Mrs. Calvert retired and came to live in Feilding, being among the first people to do so. Prior to this Mrs. Calvert lived in Nelson for some time and she still has happy recollections of the years spent there with the family of Sir James and Lady Munro with whom a friendship, started many years ago, has lived ever since. Carrying comparatively lightly the weight of 97 years, Mrs. Calvert, on sunny days, walks a little. She has kept up quite well with the recent changes in the Royal Family. That she is still able to read was evidenced this morning when a congratulatory telegram was received from her brother, Rev. Canon Haselden, of Auckland, which Mrs. Calvert proceeded to open and read. Since living in Feilding Mrs. Calvert has not taken a great deal of active interest iu local matters, though while in Auckland she was an ardent Sunday worker.