Phyllis Clark gears up for 100th birthday

Phyllis Clark is a well-loved Tōwai local with a taste for travel and a hunger to learn, and it’s seen her traverse not just the area’s countryside, but further afield.

She has seen the Berlin Wall with guards stationed outside, Russia as part of the Soviet Union, England, Morocco and more, and she has also travelled many a kilometre carrying the children of Tōwai to school on her 12-seater bus.

The intrepid lady is turning 100 on July 31, but while she is planning on spending the day in the company of a few loved ones, she has impacted more than a few lives over the years.

In 1945 she married Colin Clark, who ran the school bus business and the local garage. She gained her school bus licence and started driving when her husband was busy, a job that lasted around 40 years.

At 7.45am some mornings, Clark would board the bus and begin the journey, picking up and dropping off children at Maromaku School.

But what started out as a means to an end became a lifestyle for Clark, who said she began to look at the children on the bus as part of her family.

School events in the Maromaku area would show just how much impact she had on the tamariki.

“I knew everybody”, she explained. “I liked having them looking at me as a parent, in a way.”

Phyllis Clark is a well-known face in the Tōwai area. Photo / Tania Whyte

“I like driving, and I liked being connected with the things the schools were doing. I just liked being sort of a part of it, in a way,” she said.

In her earlier years, Clark was a keen learner. It was only after twisting her father’s arm that she was able to attend Kawakawa District High School, the only girl in her family to attend secondary school.

She also thoroughly enjoyed sports such as cricket and tennis, and her three younger brothers - the infamous Going brothers - were also sportspeople.

Her favourite subject was geography, and Clark proudly said she was even awarded after getting the best marks in the class.

“I think it was just because it was about other countries and other places,” she said.

It was perhaps this curiosity for the world that sparked something within Clark that saw her eventually travel to many countries, from Russia and England to Poland and the United States.

Her ability to travel came only after having her three sons and taking up her work as a bus driver, which she would use to fund her overseas trips.

“It allowed me to do some of the things that I wouldn’t have been able to do if I hadn’t been earning a bit of money,” she said.

Clark would take her money to Whangārei, visit the travel agent and plan overseas bus trips once she had saved enough. It was a tradition for her to visit somewhere new nearly every school holiday.

“I found them [bus tours] easy to cope with when I was travelling on my own,” she explained.

Colin would stay behind, work and keep an eye on the kids so that Clark could explore. And that she did.

“I just wanted to see what else was in the world - you’d read about places and wonder what they were like,” she said.

She trips would usually last for about a month, mostly during the school holidays and occasionally extending a little longer.

“The worst part about living in New Zealand is that you’re way down here and you’ve got to get to London before you can do much,” she explained.

Clark even reflected with glee upon one small-world moment when during a stopover in Hong Kong, she bumped into a couple from Tōwai.

Phyllis Clark and her son Perry in front of one of his buses. Photo / Tania Whyte

She retired around the age of 70, according to her son Perry Clark, who now runs the family bus business Clarks Coachlines, which has been operating for over 50 years.

Clark plans to spend her birthday doing a bus tour around Northland with loved ones, a day trip courtesy of Perry. They plan to stop off in Opua for a nice lunch.

Clark has done much in her years, but kept a firm hand on her wellbeing during all of it. She believes the secret to a long and healthy life is taking care of your body.

“I think that your body is important and you should look after it, and not take in things that we know are not good for it.”

Clark is lucky in her old age, and while she suffers from arthritis, she is otherwise healthy. She believes exploring the world has added to her overall health.

“I think if I’d had to live here all the time, it wouldn’t have stretched me enough,” she said.

“It wouldn’t have been enough interest. I think I needed a bit more than that.”

Brodie Stone is the education and general news reporter at the Advocate. Brodie recently graduated from Massey University and has a special interest in the environment and investigative reporting.