Elizabeth Barney is turning 105 on Anzac Day, April 25, exactly 105 years after the very first commemoration of Anzac Day in New Zealand in 1916.

This year, Betty as she is known by, will be surrounded by family at Ultimate Care Oakland and has received congratulatory birthday cards from another Elizabeth - Queen Elizabeth, as well as from the Governor-General the Rt Hon Dame Patsy Reddy, and MP for Tauranga Hon Simon Bridges.

Queen Elizabeth wrote 'I am delighted to send you my warm congratulations on your One Hundred and Fifth birthday, together with my best wishes for an enjoyable celebration” and signed it Elizabeth R.

Living beyond a century seems to run in the family. Betty's son Peter, who was her main caregiver up until December 2018 says that one of his aunts, on his father's side lived until age 109, was a Sister of Mercy nun and met the pope when he visited New Zealand.

Betty, who was born in Auckland, had an older sister who was born in Ohakune and a younger brother born in Hamilton. Her father worked for the New Zealand railways, so the family lived in various places during Betty's childhood. When her younger brother was born, Betty was sent to live with family on the West Coast of the South Island for a while.

On returning to Hamilton, she attended school there.

'She and her sister started Embassy Gowns, making wedding dresses,” says Peter. 'They were very talented.”

Betty Barney with her great-granddaughter Elljah Felotoi age 5, granddaughter Nastasija Barney, and son Peter Barney. Photo: John Borren.

When Betty's first marriage ended, she and her first son returned to Hamilton from Pukekohe where she met George Barney. They married in 1948, and Peter, her second son, was born six years later in 1954.

Peter's grandparents moved from Te Puke to Tauranga in 1922, and his parents moved to the Mount after they married. Peter's grandparents opened Barney's Supermarket, a general store, in Victoria Rd with George and his two sisters.

The township's buildings were mostly baches.

'In her teenage years I think Mum visited the Mount during the Christmas holidays. The railway get togethers for their Christmas parties were held at the Mount, and they came by train. Whether she met Dad as a teenager I'm not too sure. She probably met him in 1946.”

Betty's husband George was one of the foundation members of the Mount Golf Club, and a founding member and chief of the Mount Volunteer Fire Brigade, and Betty was by his side, also helping run their general store.

His family moved the general store from Victoria Rd to the corner of Pacific Ave and Maunganui Rd, building Barney's Building there in 1957.

Betty Barney's son Peter Barney, outside Barney's Building on the corner of Maunganui Rd and Pacific Ave. Photo: Bruce Barnard.

Downstairs was the main store and grocery shop for the township. They also owned a general carrying business, transporting rock for sumps and septic tanks, coal and firewood. Eventually they sold the trucking business licence to Bob Owens.

'Whenever the old sirens went, Dad just dropped everything and took off to put out the fire. Back then they didn't have modern hoses for scrub fires, it was spades and sacks,” says Peter.

Across the road from the Barney Building was the old post office, with the small recessed archway for posting letters still evident today. After George died in 1973, the building was sold.

Peter Barney cycling past the old Mount Maunganui post office, located opposite Barney's Building, on the corner of Pacific Ave and Maunganui Rd. The recessed archway used for posting letters is still evident. Photo: Bruce Barnard.

Betty's niece, Gaylene Manyweathers remembers her aunt teaching her to knit, and walking along the Mount beach collecting seashells.

'She is such a lovely lady, always happy, always a delight,” says Gaylene. 'I'm her only niece. She never had a daughter, and we've always had a special bond. She's had a lot of tragedy in her life. I'm very fond of her, she's just a delight.”