Joyce McIntyre cuts the three-tiered iced birthday cake made by Woodville Stephanie Twigge at her 100th birthday celebration on July 21.
When planning began for Joyce McIntyre’s 100th birthday, the centenarian designed most of it herself, right down to the music.
Her official birthday being mid-week, it was decided to hold the celebration on July 21 at Woodville’s Fire Station lounge as it meant all her family could be present, a point she emphasised in her speech of thanks.
Her organisation of the celebration would probably come as no surprise to her family.
Born on July 24, 1924, in Auckland on her mother’s birthday, Dorothy Joyce Janet McIntyre (nee Petterson) has lived 100 years of life full of experiences shaped both by family and global events.
Son Kevin says these formed her outlook on life, influenced her upbringing and her ability to survive the events she found in front of her.
He says she is a survivor of her times with characteristics that stay to the present day.
Living in an orphanage for nine years while her parents survived the Depression, Joyce went on to high school in both Auckland and Wellington before going to Hamilton in 1942 to train to be a nurse.
There she treated a soldier, Jim McIntyre, who was wounded at Crete, and in the process they fell in love, marrying in 1945 on her 21st birthday.
After a short stint at Raglan, the couple moved to Woodville, where Jim could get treatment for dermatitis. They raised a daughter, Carol, and two sons Kevin and Graeme, becoming thoroughly involved in the Woodville community, renting and then buying a new state house at 29 Fox St, where Joyce still lives.
Jim worked at a variety of jobs in the post office and as a chief ambulance volunteer driver, Joyce joining him as a team with her dad while her mum babysat the children.
It was during this time that Joyce began contributing to the community, joining what became the Girl Guides and then the Crippled Children Society, also going on to become a foundation member of the Tararua College Parent Teacher Committee in 1960 when the school opened and serving 10 years.
This was followed in 1986 when Joyce won election as the Woodville Borough Council representative on the Dannevirke Hospital Board and subsequently was voted onto the Woodville Community Board in 1989.
It was a busy and rewarding life and the McIntyres also looked after many other children in their home when locals needed support, and hosted other adults including Jim’s dad for several years when they needed temporary accommodation.
Joyce used her nursing skills to the benefit of the community, being on-call often at the Woodville Maternity Hospital and made other contributions to the medical welfare of Woodville.
She played a major role in attracting both Dr Sam Wilson to settle in the district in 1998, and Dr David Adams to set up his pharmacy, and was a determined force in the long battle to establish the Woodville Ambulance Rooms.
In February 1992, Joyce was devastated by husband Jim’s passing but she continued to serve the Woodville community.
She joined the Waireka Rest Home Board in 2001 on which she served six years, was on the St John’s Ambulance Area Board in Dannevirke from 1997-2001 and drove for out-patient hospital patients in Palmerston North from 1997-2000.
Joyce made sure she was enjoying herself in these later years. With members of her family she has toured the South Island, taken caravan escapades to places like Lake Ferry and Foxton, flown in a hot air balloon, attended a Cliff Richard Mission Concert, kayaked the Manawatū Gorge and toured the North Island on her 80th birthday just to name a few.
Her 90th birthday was even more special, as she was awarded the District of Tararua Civic Honour for Community Service by Mayor Roly Ellis, at a function in the Woodville School Hall surrounded by all of her friends of 90 years.
She has continued to attend every public event, such as the Woodville Commemoration of the Coronation of King Charles, and was escorted over the new Manawatū-Tararua highway in December 2023.
With Kevin and his wife Joan in residence in Woodville, Joyce has been well cared for although Kevin would say it was “more mum caring for us”.
Can Tararua District afford both a toll on the highway and maintenance on other routes?