Her parents were Les (LG) and Mary Osborne, who farmed at Tuhikaramea before purchasing a farm at Mangaotaki, near Piopio. She was born in Frankton.
Claire did all her schooling at Mangaotaki School. All six kids rode to school - for a while all on one horse.
During World War II she worked as a farm girl.
As a young woman, she loved to dance - and as with many romances of the time she met her husband at a dance, being swept off her feet by farmer Jim Oaker at the Waitanguru Hall Dance.
They married in 1946 and had three children, Kerol, Kevin and Desmond.
The couple took share milking jobs in the district, starting out on Jack and Elsie Bryant’s Pōkuru property and at one stage moving to Waharoa.
When I asked about Jim, she said he was a beautiful dancer - that was his best quality. She left him and took the children to Auckland, where she met and married another man through another of her passions, horse racing.
Grenville Hughes was a great Kiwi jockey, but as it turned out, not the right man for Claire either.
By chance, she did meet the right man through an advertisement for a housekeeper when she was visiting her daughter Kerol, who was by now living in Blenheim.
Claire initially said she wasn’t going to look after some strange man’s house.
Ken Tombs was that man and they had 33 wonderful years together before he passed away.
He was a farmer and a builder and soon after they married, they relocated to Howick, where he built a home at Cockle Bay.
They moved closer to home for Claire next, but then adventure followed and the couple purchased a lifestyle block on the Gold Coast in Australia with her son and his family.
They had two homes on the property and the Tombs developed the gardens, another passion.
In the 20 years they lived in Australia they travelled all over New South Wales and Queensland.
When they returned to New Zealand, they moved into their Mutu St home and set about renovating and developing and looking after beautiful gardens.
Ken had served overseas for four years in World War II and when his health started to deteriorate, he knew those hard years were taking a toll.
But he had a wonderful, dry sense of humour and didn’t let it get him down.
He is buried at Te Awamutu RSA Cemetery and when her time comes, Claire will join him.
As well as their gardening, the couple loved walking. Claire still likes to put in a couple of laps of CHT.
And she has a room with a garden outside the door and a view of lawns and hedges - perfect, she said.
Claire has six grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren and four great-great-grandchildren - many were present for the birthday celebration, which was held at Storyteller, which is owned by family.
She said it was a lovely gathering - a perfect place for Vera in a few years.
