NINETIETH BIRTHDAY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22211, 11 September 1935, Page 4

NINETIETH BIRTHDAY

TRIBUTE TO SETTLER r [by TELEGRAPH —OWN correspondent] WHANGAREI. Tuesday A striking tribute to her long service to the community during her 60 years' residence at Maungakaramea was paid yesterday to Mrs. Isobel Crawford, who received over 100 guests who had gathered at her home to celebrate her 90th birthday. Born at St. Martins, Perthshire, Scotland, she came to New Zealand in 1876 in the ship Ocean Mail to join her sister, Mrs. Miller, at Maungakaramea. Tho same year she married Mr. John Crawford, and the couple farmed in that locality until Mr. Crawford died in 1920. Of their family of seven, those living are: Messrs. Jack and Hugh Crawford, of Maungakaramea, and Mrs. G. Qourtney, of Thames. There are 17 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. At yesterday's function, which was representative of the whole district, Mr. T. O'Carroll read an address to Mrs. Crawford, in the course of which he said that the present occasion was to his knowledge the first of its kind in the district and was a tribute to the great hospitality Mrs. Crawford had always shown anil the skill and untiring effort she had displayed as a nurse during the early pioneering days. On behalf of the settlers he presented Mrs. Crawford with an easy chair and cushion, and her youngest two grandchildren present presented her with bouquets. Mrs. Crawford, who, apart from being slightly deaf, is well and able to read without glasses, • cut a handsome birthday cake with its 90 candles, which had been prepared by Mrs. Wenzlick.