Anne Flutey has swapped legislation for life stories. Photo/Bevan Conley
Anne Flutey remembers when there were few vehicles in the Wanganui district and her father had a truck on the family farm at Maxwell.
"The Government wanted to commandeer it during the war and dad said they couldn't take it unless they took him with it - so they did."
Born Anne Derbyshire in 1935, Mrs Flutey recalls a couple of older men arriving on their bicycles to help out with the milking while her father was away.
"We only had about 25 dairy cows but we made a living from them. Most people had small farms in those times."
After attending Maxwell school and Wanganui Technical College (now City College), 15-year-old Anne went to work at Burnett and Palmer Solicitors in Ridgway St.
"I started out licking envelopes but I was a good shorthand typist and I eventually became head typist."
Five years later, Anne gave up the job when she married Tom Flutey, a young farm worker from Otaki, who was working in Marton.
"We built a house in Ward Ave and tried to be townies, but we hated it and we moved to Ngutuwera, out behind Waitotara.
The Fluteys had three children and Tom Flutey worked for a grain and potato grower, a business the couple eventually bought. They also bought the Waitotara mail run.
Anne decided to go back to work in 1968 and was given a three-month trial at Coleman and Co solicitors in Waverley.
"When I eventually resigned, 30 years later, I said I had decided not to accept the position since my trial period had expired."
While working for the law firm, Mrs Flutey decided to train as a legal executive and undertook five years of correspondence study to qualify.
"Coleman and Co merged with Treadwell, Gordon and Co in 1988, and I would work two days a week in Waverley and two in Wanganui.
"Tom became ill that year, and we still had the mail and the harvesting business to run. My sister-in-law helped out with the mail run.
"When Tom passed away in 1989, it was hard to keep everything going. My daughter Trisha did the mail run for a while too."
Mrs Flutey continued working at Treadwell and Co until they closed the Waverley office in 1998.
"They gave me a set of travel luggage as a retirement gift, but I never got to use it because I was offered work as a legal executive with the Wanganui District Council and I stayed there for 13 years."
Since retiring 18 months ago, Mrs Flutey has found a new vocation as a biographer.
"My boss at the council, Rowan McGregor, asked me to compile a booklet on the local history of the YMCA.
"I knew nothing about it and asked my grandson Scott to help me, and we spent a lot of time at the Alexander Library.
"I developed a real liking for it, and it has inspired me to start writing about local people because there is some fascinating history there."
Mrs Flutey has written George Ross - His Story and Ngamatapouri to Moeawatea - A Scrubcutter's Dream, and she is working on another book.
Life as a "townie" is working out all right for Anne Flutey these days, since losing the family home at Ngutuwera when the area was flooded in 2004.
"I have got used to living in town now, although it took a while," she says.
Her life is still busy - working for Citizens' Advice and performing duties as a Justice of the Peace and a marriage celebrant. She has also just completed two weeks' work counting votes after the general election.
"I do floral art too. I belong to the Manawatu club and we meet up with clubs from other regions and have competitions. I really enjoy it."
She is pleased her family and five grandchildren all live nearby and she sees them often - when she is not busy, that is.