Mangonui resident celebrates 100th birthday in lockdown

Dori Scott Archer turned 100 on August 22, 2021. Photo / Supplied

Spending her 100th birthday in lockdown was not the way Dori Scott Archer had imagined celebrating such a momentous occasion.

The Mangonui centenarian had planned to attend a special birthday service in Kaitaia on Saturday, surrounded by family and friends, at her beloved Seventh Day Adventist Church.

Last Tuesday's level 4 lockdown announcement meant, however, that Dori was forced to mark the significant milestone at home.

In 2020, Dori first met her great-grandson, Jasper, pictured here with Dori's daughter-in-law Ali and Jasper's mum, Emma. Photo / Supplied

Despite the change of plan, Dori said she was grateful to spend precious time with her daughter.

"I haven't seen Fiona since 2019 who has travelled from the United Kingdom to be here," Dori said.

"I was looking forward to seeing my other family, especially my great-grandson who is 2 and a half years old.

"I was also excited about being with my church family who mean a lot to me and who've been a big support to me."

As would be expected, Dori has achieved a lot in her 100 years.

She has worked as a drama producer, an Edinburgh Fire Brigade officer, a school principal, a local historian, an author of plays, memoirs, poems and detective novels, and has written for the Northland Age.

Originally from England, Dori Baxter was born on August 22, 1921, in Kingston-upon-Hull, Yorkshire.

Doris Baxter (middle) with her siblings in the 1920s. Photo / Supplied

Her entrance into the world narrowly missed another pandemic - the Spanish flu - which her parents said had claimed the lives of many people they knew.

The grandmother of six said she grew up in a large family in a grim street near a factory that produced Reckitt's household cleaning products.

It was that same factory Dori would come to work in after leaving school at 13.

World War II broke out not long after she started work, and Hull's port and factories were bombed by Hitler's Luftwaffe.

To discourage Nazi dive bombers, the Royal Air Force sent barrage balloons to float above the city.

One of the people in charge of launching the balloons was Scotsman Duncan Scott, who Dori met and fell in love with in 1940.

The couple were married two years later and Dori said while married life was good, those early days were some of the hardest of her life.

Doris Baxter and Duncan Scott on their wedding day in Hull in 1942. Photo / Supplied

"Food rationing was really bad at that time, which meant I didn't get the care and attention I needed," she said.

"We also experienced one of the worst winters in 100 years and as a result, we lost a child.

"We eventually had three more children, our two boys Gavin, Glen (Gus) and daughter Fiona.

"Things were so desperate back then, we often wondered who had really won the war as people were so poor."

When Duncan returned from the war in 1946, he trained as a leather worker and Dori's love of literature propelled her to fill in the gaps of her education.

In between juggling being a mother and housewife, Dori completed high school diplomas and certificates in drama and elocution via correspondence.

She later put her qualifications to practical use, teaching speech and drama and producing plays at youth institutes and adult education centres.

Then just before Christmas 1960, Duncan was laid off by the factory where he worked and the couple decided to emigrate to Australia.

Dori leaves England in 1961, with children Gavin, Glenn and Fiona. Photo / Supplied

In those days, such a trip meant you would probably never see your family again, but the pair were determined to take the plunge in search of a better life.

Fate would have other plans, however, as Dori was soon after hospitalised for 10 weeks with rheumatic fever.

"I'm thankful we didn't end up going to Australia as I would have been in the middle of the Atlantic when I got sick," Dori said.

"Things were very strict back then, so being in hospital meant I didn't get to see my children for more than two months.

"That was very hard."

After recovering from her illness, Dori and Duncan eventually sold their family home, which paid for a one-way ticket to New Zealand.

The family of five docked at Wellington on the SS Rangitata in 1961 and made the journey to Havelock North, Hawke's Bay.

Duncan went to work at the Tomoana freezing works, where he became a meat inspector and later worked as a chiropodist at local retirement homes.

Alan and Dori. Photo / Supplied

Ever determined, Dori signed up for a one-year teacher's course in Palmerston North, where she boarded with Fiona (then a toddler) during the week and came home at weekends to look after Duncan, Gavin and Gus.

After qualifying, Dori began teaching at Havelock's Lucknow Primary School, where she produced plays for the village drama society and taught speech and drama at the famous Iona and Woodford colleges.

A few years later, the family moved to Auckland, where she retrained to introduce speech and drama into special education and became the principal of a rural school in Ohuka.

Dori said literature and the arts continued to bring her much joy to this day.

"My head is full of poetry and I often recite words and poems in my head and out loud," she said.

"I've always loved having intellectual conversations and listening to debates or talks.

"I feel like technology has made people more robotic and technical, and people always talk about how they need to do things to 'pass the time'.

"I really don't mind my own company and can't understand why someone would want to 'pass' time.

"Time is so precious, we need to use every moment and make the most of it!"

In 1974, Duncan, 53, sadly passed away, leaving Dori a widow for 12 years before meeting her second husband, Alan Archer.

Alan and Dori. Photo / Supplied

Alan was a Royal Naval Dockyard retiree who was determined to bring back trees to 150 acres of gorse-covered land in the hills behind Mangonui.

Here the pair went on to plant more than 20,000 trees over 30 years and built their own self-sustainable, off-grid home.

Dori continues to live in Mangonui despite Alan's death some years ago, and is remarkably active, walking daily to fuel her generator and relying on home support only three days a week.

Daughter Fiona said her mum was as tenacious as ever and she was thrilled to be able to spend Dori's 100th birthday together.

A beautiful card for Dori's 100th birthday. Photo / Supplied

"It's been a long and difficult journey getting here to be with Mum, but it's been so worth it," Fiona said.

"I can't believe she is still living so independently in her own home at this great age.

"I am very proud of her and always keep in touch from the UK with a weekly phone call.

"That helps keep Mum up to date with world news and she still gives me guidance to this day!"

For her 100 year birthday Dori received an official letter from Her Majesty The Queen, NZ Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern and Minister for Seniors, Dr Ayesha Verrall.

Dori's letter from Her Majesty The Queen. Photo / Supplied

Last year Frank Geddes from Whangārei also celebrated his 100th year during the first level 4 Covid-19 lockdown.