21ST BIRTHDAY AT 88 YEARS OF AGE

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30364, 13 February 1964, Page 12

21ST BIRTHDAY AT 88 YEARS OF AGE

Mr Arthur John Wickes, of —Opawa, Christchurch, will have a big party this month for his twenty-first birthday. There will be a cake, a family gathering, and he will be given the key of the door.

This twenty-first birthday will be distinguished from most others because Mr Wickes will be 88 years of age, will celebrate his diamond wedding later in the year, and has a large family. He was born on February 29, 1876—a leap-year baby—and besides missing a birthday every four years did not have one for eight years at the turn of the century. The

extra day was not added to February in 1900 because the figure at the turn of the century must be divisible by 400.

Mr Wickes was bom in Greymouth but, from 1879 to 1-887, the family lived in Christchurch, where he began school. On his family's return to Greymouth he entered the Greymouth School, became a probationer and then a pupil teacher there, and then moved to what is now the Kumara District High School.

Advancement in hs profession came quickly. Mr Wickes was sole teacher at Tinirato (Hawke’s Bay) and at Huirangi (Taranaki >. both in 1899, and then headmaster successively at Paroa from 1899 to 1901, BlackbaU from 1901 to 1918, Pleasant Point from 1918 to 1920, Opawa from 1920 to 1927, and Waltham from 1927 to 1932. In. the whole of his 41 years’ teaching Mr Wickes "did not miss a minute" th ough absence or lateness. Mr and Mrs Wickes have now lived in Opawa for 43 years. They will celebrate their diamond wedding on December 26 this year.