Hazel joins exclusive club of 100-year-old drivers

Hazel Shanks, 100, with her red Mini. Picture / Otago Daily Times

When Hazel Shanks passed her driving test in her bright red Mini this week, she joined a very special club.

She has become one of three men and two women aged 100 or older who hold driver's licences.

The healthy and sprightly centenarian didn't want too much fuss made of her. But the letters from the Queen, Governor-General, Prime Minister and other politicians that covered a small table, not to mention the reporters knocking at the door of her Mosgiel home, meant that wasn't an option.

Not that it wasn't exciting to receive the royal acknowledgement.

"Oh yes it was. It's not everyone who writes to me from Her Majesty's."

Mrs Shanks lives alone and enjoys knitting, baking and gardening.

A keen user of modern technology, she has gone from writing on a slate at primary school in Waikoikoi, between Tapanui and Gore, to using a computer.

That technology, with the more practical appliances taken for granted by younger people, was one of the best things to come out of the past 100 years, she said.

Mrs Shanks got a microwave for her 94th birthday, but it was the invention of the washing machine that made a real difference.

"We didn't have any of those things," she said of the earlier part of her life.

"We used to use coppers and scrubbing boards. When you think about the modern appliances you use, it makes life so much easier."

Born in Tapanui and brought up in West Otago, she came to Dunedin to follow a career in nursing in 1924. She left in 1931 to get married - only single women were allowed to work as nurses.

Mrs Shanks had two children, Norene and Colin, and with her husband, Arthur, built a house in Mary Hill, where she lived for 40 years.

During World War II, Arthur was killed in Italy.

"She was a mother and father for us [after the war]," Norene said. "She did without to get us an education."

Mrs Shanks is a big believer in education.

"We couldn't have done it without her," Norene said. "She's a great mum and a best friend."

With the help of a friend, she began the War Widows Association in Dunedin, which grew to 100 members.

Mrs Shanks said one of her chief pleasures was croquet, which she played for more than 50 years. She became a life member of the Caversham Croquet Club and represented Otago.

"I played a lot of croquet. I loved it."

Asked what advice she would give to a young person, she said to stick with what you enjoyed.

"If you had a position that you were happy with, carry on."

Mrs Shanks is one of three surviving sisters of 13 siblings. She has six grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

There were about 150 people expected to celebrate her birthday in Mosgiel this weekend, with guests arriving from Los Angeles, New York and Sydney.

- OTAGO DAILY TIMES