At 101, Inez Pearce still enjoys gardening and volunteering at Trade Aid. Photo / Judith Lacy
At 101, Inez Pearce still enjoys gardening and volunteering at Trade Aid. Photo / Judith Lacy
In between baking Anzac biscuits, volunteering at Trade Aid and gardening, Inez Pearce has a goal.
A keen royalist, she would like to receive a birthday card from King Charles when she turns 105. She received one from his mother last year when she turned 100.
The Palmerston North resident turned 101 on January 10.
Two days before she went out for lunch with her nephew and his wife as they were going away. Since then, she has been taken out for lunch, had visitors or gone visiting. The night before the Manawatū Guardian visited last Friday, Pearce had been taken out for dinner by friends.
Turning 101 seems to have been a drawn-out celebration, she says. Getting to 105 is a “bit special” but 101 is just one added to 100.
Her health is “pretty good” but it takes her a long time in the mornings to get her balance. When she was 93, Pearce broke bones in her right arm. She had a metal cap and steel rod inserted but her shoulder has never stopped aching.
With old age comes aches and pains you learn to live with, she says.
Her philosophy is to take every day as it comes and this also applies to Anzac biscuits. “I’ve made them for years and they never come out the same twice.”
Inez Pearce is a fan of Palmerston North's weather, but not of the nickname Palmy. Photo / Judith Lacy
Pearce was reading the daily paper when this reporter arrived. We talk about post office closures, Kāinga Ora’s building programme, youth crime, the demise of cheques, and roadworks.
Society is totally different now, she says. A lot of children have gone off the rails and many people don’t respect other people’s property. She would like more police on the beat as a deterrent to crime.
“It’s a changing world but you have to learn to adjust to it somehow.”
Pearce is not a fan of the “Happy holidays, Palmy” banner the city council has strung across Broadway Ave. She doesn’t like the moniker Palmy because the place was named Palmerston and says the greeting should be happy Christmas.
Pearce sees the banner on Wednesday afternoons when she volunteers at Trade Aid. She started more than 35 years ago when Trade Aid was by the city council building. Volunteers used a hand-operated cash register and wrote all the sales in a big ledger.
She still enjoys serving customers and says the quality of products has improved a lot over the decades. Chocolate is a big seller; raspberry is her favourite flavour, though passionfruit is very nice.
Palmerston North is a nice place to live. “We don’t get a lot of bad weather, do we, compared with other parts of the country.”
She still does some gardening. “[Daughter] Sandra does most of the hard work, I do the easy parts.”
Her primulas, which normally bloom in winter, are still flowering but her tomatoes are not yet ripening.
Inez Pearce received a card from the Queen in January last year. The photo beside Pearce is of her at age 21. Photo / Judith Lacy
Sandra says her mother inherited good genes and has a good attitude. Still living in her own home is a big factor.
Sandra also has other ingredients in her “recipe for success” — avoid isolation, maintain contact with family, go on outings, volunteer, help other people, exercise, and get some fresh air. Pearce’s father, William Tynan, instilled in her a love of physical activity.
Pearce told the Manawatū Guardian last year her father was always on the go. “He used to make us get up and have a game of tennis before we went to work.” She remembers running to get the train afterwards, a piece of toast in one hand.
Sandra: “If you don’t use it, you lose it whether you are 10 or 100 — your brain, your body, whatever, and there’s no point in giving up.” It’s important to have something to get up for.
Pearce was born in Bristol, southwest England, on January 10, 1922. She was 4 when she left Bristol with her mother Doris, father William, and older brother Gordon. Her twin brother had died before they emigrated.
Pearce lost two fiances during World War II. In 1945, she married Victor James Pearce, known as Jim. They lived in Lower Hutt and in 1961 moved to Manawatū, where Jim worked on farms.
She has two daughters — Cherie, who lives in Perth, and Sandra, who lives with her. She has two grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Pearce says joining clubs is important, especially when you move to a new town. She used to play bridge and outdoor bowls, and belonged to the china painting club and antique club.
