Beryl Baguley (left), pictured with twin Matilda (Tilly) Hanlon a few days before they turned 100 in 2009, has died. She was 109. Sister Matilda died at the age of 102. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Beryl Baguley (left), pictured with twin Matilda (Tilly) Hanlon a few days before they turned 100 in 2009, has died. She was 109. Sister Matilda died at the age of 102. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Strong will, simple taste, and a high pain threshold were what distinguished the long life of Beryl Baguley.
Beryl, who was 109, died on Wednesday. She had been the remaining sister of the once oldest New Zealand twins.
She died quietly in her sleep in the Franklin Memorial Hospital, seven years after her sister Matilda who passed away in 2011 at the age of 102.
According to granddaughter Julie Ashworth, Beryl was the eighth oldest New Zealander. The oldest is thought to be a 111-year- old woman, who was born on May 27, 1907.
Beryl Baguley and her non-identical twin sister Matilda were born on March 19, 1909, and were the oldest living twins in New Zealand.
Up until last year Beryl had been in a Waiuku townhouse which she moved into when she retired in 1974.
Ashworth said grandmother was "extremely independent" and convincing her to move into a nursing home was no easy feat.
"She was staunch. You didn't get away with anything with her. She was strong. Like if she went to shake your hand you felt it," Julie said
"When she turned 105 she broke her hip and we thought 'oh no, this is going to be hard' but she bounced back from that like a 60-year-old. Nana had a really high pain threshold.
"Going through the depression and I remember her saying when New Zealand thought they were in the recession and she said 'this isn't recession, you guys have got no idea'. She used to get a bit infuriated by politics on the TV."
Standing with her twin sister Matilda, Beryl Bagley (left) died on November 14 aged 109. Photo / Supplied
Born in Manukau, South Auckland, Beryl spent her young adulthood as a seamstress before marrying her husband John at age 31, and moving to work and live on a dairy farm in Franklin.
It separated her from her sister for much of her adult life.
"They just lived separate lives for quite a long time. They didn't see a hell of a lot of each other but obviously as they got older they saw more and more. It was a good relationship," Julie says.
Beryl with her husband John. Photo / Supplied
"They'd talk on the phone regularly. A lot of it about family, how everybody was doing.
"Once dementia set in with Tilly, they'd talk about things but then they'd both forget what they'd talked about so they probably repeated things a hell of a lot later in life, ha. They were definitely their own people."
Beryl had two children, Eric and David, who had five grandchildren, leading to eight great-grandchildren. Eric is 75 while David died in 1992 aged 46. Her eldest grandchild is Donna, aged 50, and her eldest great-grandchild is Conway, aged 17.
Julie Ashworth with her grandmother Beryl Baguley. Photo / Supplied
Julie Ashworth said her Nan's golden years consisted of a "simple lifestyle", but there was nothing particularly quirky about it that explained her long life.
"She never smoked, never drunk, no spicy food, never drove a car. Grandad did try and teach her when they were younger and it just ended up in a fight so she just said 'if you're not going to teach me then you're going to have to drive me everywhere' so he did.
"She loved watching rugby. She always watched the All Blacks games as long as she could see, she'd get up in the morning to watch the early games. She was also big in the bowling scene."
But what wasn't so simple was Beryl's philosophy to life.
Beryl with her great-grandchildren: (from left) Jenna Baguley, Lucas Baguley, Zoe Ashworth, Alex Ashworth. Photo / Supplied
"She always had an opinion on something, like if you went and put on two kilos she'd tell you," Julie said.
"In some ways she might not have had a filter. She was straight up. But it was good, we always knew where we stood. We never got in any trouble when Nana was about."
The state of New Zealand on March 19, 1907 - when Beryl Baguley was born
• NZ's first ever Prime Minister, Joseph Ward, had just been elected in August 1906. Prior to that Premier was the top office. Ward was from the Liberal Party - the first political party in New Zealand disbanded in 1912 • Seven years from the outbreak of WWI • currency was the New Zealand pound (changed to dollar in 1967) • The All Blacks were undertaking their first ever series tour against the Australian national team - NZ won the series (two wins and a draw) • NZ was still a "colony" of Britain, changed to "dominion" in September 1907 • population was 900,000
