NEWS FOR WOMEN Fendalton Woman To Celebrate Her Hundredth Birthday Today

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27641, 23 April 1955, Page 2

NEWS FOR WOMEN Fendalton Woman To Celebrate Her Hundredth Birthday Today

A much loved and greatly revered resident of Fendalton, Mrs Fanny Lochart Denshire will celebrate her one hundredth birthday today and at her home in Jackson’s road she will receive the congratulations of a very large number of relatives and friends. This morning relatives and close friends, some of whom have come from as far away as Rotorua and South Canterbury for this special occasion, will be entertained, and in the afternoon, a birthday party will be held and Mrs Denshire will cut her birthday cake bearing 100 candles. Mrs Denshire is enjoying good health. She is slightly hard of hearing, but her sight is excellent. Every day she reads “The Press” and it is quite usual for her to read three novels a week. She is still interested in her garden though in later months she has not often ventured out-of-doors, but from a sheltered position on a sunporch she notes the beauty of her favourite flowers and shrubs.

Mrs Denshire (formerly Miss Dodson) was born in Nelson on St. George’s Day, April 25, 1855. Her father (Mr Joseph Reid Dodson) settled in Nelson in 1854 and when Nelson was constituted a borough he was elected the first Mayor. He was re-elected in 1877 and each successive year until he retired in 1881. While she was still a child, her father took his family to England, where they remained for some years during which Mrs Denshire attended the girls’ college at Bath. She was a keen traveller and made three tours round the world before her marriage to an Englishman, Mr W. M. Denshire, after which she lived on her husband’s sheep station. “Thetford,” in the Sea-

field district. Later Mr and Mrs Denshire moved to Ashburton, where Mrs Denshire took an active part in the affairs of the town. She was a good horsewoman and a keen follower of the hunt and also a noted singer, who was generous in sharing her gifts with others. She was a member of the Liederkranzchen and the Harmonic Society in Ashburton. Her only son was killed in the 191418 war and soon afterwards Mr Denshire died and Mrs Denshire and her daughters moved to Christchurch. All her life she has been a staunch church woman. In her girlhood in Nelson she sang in the Cathedral choir and was an energetic church worker; and in Ashburton she was actively interested in St. Stephen’s Church and was president of the Ministering Children’s League. During her 35 years’ residence in Christchurch, she has been a‘ devout member of St. Barnabas’ Church, Fendalton. Mrs Denshire retains a warm affection for Nelson, and because of her health, she and her daughters for many years in succession spent the winter months there. ' Latterly she used to fly backwards and forwards; and she says she received great kindness from the pilots, who were proud of her because of her age. Although few of her contemporaries survive, Mrs Denshire takes a kindly interest in the many friends of different ages whom she knew in her more active years. She was grieved this month when she learnt of the death of. an old friend, Mr H. F. Nicoll, whom she had known for many years. Of five daughters, three live with their mother in Fendalton. Her two married daughters died some years ago.