Joan Porter turned 104 on Friday with a simple message: be nice and get to know your neighbors.
The Lower Hutt native and former New Zealand lawn bowler celebrated the milestone with friends and family before heading to the Petone Working Men’s Club for dinner.
Her birthday was also celebrated on social media after granddaughter Mel Porter posted a message asking friends to do something nice in her honor.
“On Friday I hope as a tribute to my wonderful grandmother that everyone can do something nice and thoughtful, for example help someone carry bags, clean up some trash, smile at a stranger, use your indicator or make a donation to a charity,” she wrote.
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Joan, a former two-time New Zealand pairs champion, has a plaque to her name on Jackson Sr. as part of the Petone Walk of Champions.
Jericho Rock Archer
Former National Bowling Representative Joan Porter turned 104 on Friday. Children Marilyn Porter, 75, and John Porter, 74, kiss her on the cheek to celebrate the milestone.
Born in Christchurch at the height of the Depression, she attributes her longevity to a healthy appetite.
“I have always been well fed. With my parents, in the Depression, they always made sure there was food on the table and our plates cleared.”
Joan met her husband Harry Porter at a dance in 1938, after her then-male partner said he didn’t want to dance.
Jericho Rock Archer
Joan won numerous titles in a long career playing lawns.
They married in 1939 and moved to the Hutt Valley that year. She worked as a bookbinder and ran a dairy farm in Petone.
She started playing grass bowls in the early 1950s and built a distinguished career, including two national titles, 16 middle titles and representing New Zealand at the Australian Games in 1985.
In Australia she played with the legendary New Zealand bowler Mille Khanwhich Joan remembers fondly.
Jericho Rock Archer
Joan has had her teddy bear, which she calls Teddy, for 103 years.
“Gosh, she was a great bowler and a good person. Her success has not gone to her head.”
When her eyesight began to falter, Joan blindly picked up indoor bowls and played her last game at age 100.
Harry, a dental technician at the Hutt, died in 1988. Joan lives independently and was delighted to learn that her granddaughter wanted to honor her by letting people do something nice.
She has lived at her current address for several years and regrets not getting to know her neighbors better.
Jericho Rock Archer
Joan and Harry Porter first met in 1938 and were married the following year.
“It’s a nice gesture and I hope everyone will come out and do something to help their neighbor.”
Mel Porter said she is the “sweetest and nicest” person she knows and it was a great honor to have a grandmother who turned 104.
“Not many people live to be 104 years old. She’s been through so much in her life, a war, the depression, and she’s never complained, even in these difficult times, she hasn’t complained.”