She spent her early years at Red Beach, leaving school to work in her father's nursery business during the depression years. A keen traveller, she met her future husband Arthur on a Pacific Island cruise in 1939. They married and they were dairy farmers until retirement.
She has three children, five grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren.
Ella drove until she was 97, only giving up once she moved into a retirement village and realised it was easier to take a minivan trip with her friends to go shopping rather than find her way around.
The answer to the inevitable question about her secret to good health can be summed up in one word - "exercise".
"You've got to exercise - always take the stairs not the lift."
She has taken part in the village's organised exercise classes but finds them a bit too sedate for her liking.
"I didn't think they were exercise as I like it, they were more like fun."
Daughter Lynda Brown said her mum's other secret has been not stressing too much about anything she couldn't change.
"She's very stress free about everything, nothing seems to worry her too much," Ms Brown said.
Ella was mad keen on sport, playing basketball, bowls and golf. Travel has always been a big part of her life and she filled up three passports with stamps from trips around the world.
Her favourite pastimes - when she's not exercising that is - are doing crosswords or playing patience.
Ms Brown said it was always easy to find her mum when she came to visit.
"She's always on the exercise machine watching TV. You can't stop her."
