NONAGENARIAN STILL ACTIVE

Putaruru Press, Volume XX, Issue 1209, 21 November 1946, Page 3

NONAGENARIAN STILL ACTIVE

THAMES VALLEY PIONEER Mrs. Helen Grattan’s Birthday Although she attained her 90th birthday last week, Mrs. Helen Grattan, of Rata Street. Te Aroha, mother of Mrs. A. G. Yardley, of Morrinsville, is still a most active person, carrying out all routine household duties and attending personally to her domestic marketing. Mrs. Grattan’s association with Thames Valley goes back 72 years to 1874, when she first arrived at Waihou. Born at Otahuhu in 1856 Mrs. Grattan as a young girl left with her uncle for what is now the Morrinsville district, the journry being made by boat to Hamilton and thence by two-horse wagon to Morrinsville.

At the age of 18 years, Mrs. Grattan —now familiarly known as “’Gran”—went to live: at Waihou. where she worked at the hotel. At that time there was no township at Te Aroha and no crossing over the Waihou River, which district residents frequently visited but which could not be crossed except by swimming. The district at that time was largely of a swampy nature, and gold had not been discovered at Waiorongomai. The site of Te Aroha was marked by one solitary building, a raupo whare near where the Hot Springs Hotel now stands which was occupied by a Maori named Morgan, after whom Morgantown was late - named. Here ha did a small trade in drinks of various kinds with the few passers-by of those days. Later a punt was built by Mr. C. Everitt, father of Mr. Charles Everitt, of Morrinsville. who had done a good business in transporting sightseers and picnickers across tha Waihou to the eastern bank Unbroken Connection In 1880 Mrs. Grattan married' tha late Mr. T. A. Grattan, a Government surveyor, and they moved to Te Aroha in 1883 when tho town was in its earliest stages. She thus has had an unb-oken connection with that town for 63 years. Even in those days there was a severe housing shortage. Chiefly because of the lack of transport it was difficult for houses to ba built, heavy materials having to come up the river by boat. On one occasion Mrs. Grattan was obliged to live in a raupo whare—the genuine article with dirt floor—for a period of three years. Although she claimed that it was as comfortable a house as ever she lived in, she wondered whether young people of to-day would be prepared to live under similar circumstances.

A member of the Anglican Church Mrs. Grattan attends service at St. Mark’s Church in Te' Aroha every Sunday and takes a lively interest ir. the business of the parish and affairs in general.

She is the sole survivor of a family of five, but of the nine members of her own family six are still living. They are Mrs. A. G. Yardley. of Morrinsville, Mr. J. Grattan, of Auckland, Mrs. P. Hogan, Mrs. J. Dowling, Mr. T. Grattan and Mr. E. Grattan, of Te Aroha. There are also 35 grandchildren and 27 great grandchildren. It is interesting to note that there are four generations on the female side, all New Zealand born