Te Awamutu’s Rie de Haan rang in her centenary last week amid a sea of welcoming faces and the skirl of the bagpipes.
Newly-minted centenarian Rie de Haan with some of her family. They are, from left, Alex Fitzgerald, Geoffrey FitzGerald, daughter Johanna FitzGerald, son Andre de Haan, Doreen de Haan, Rose de Haan and 11-month-old Naomi. Photo: Viv Posselt
That birthday celebration, which was one of several held to mark the occasion, took place at Te Ata Rest Home where Rie now lives. The facility’s diversional therapist Kerri-Ann Denton organised a cupcake birthday cake and a special afternoon tea.
Rie turned 100 on March 27. Her extended family, plus visitors from Finland and Holland, attended the celebrations. Still sharp as a tack, she was delighted when Te Awamutu and Districts Highland Pipe Band showed up for the rest home party. Her son-in-law, Geoffrey FitzGerald, played with them for some years before giving it up, and the band often turns up to entertain residents.
Rie was born Hendrica Parlevliet on March 27, 1925, in Wieringerwaard, Holland, one of four siblings. The family moved to a lease farm in Rozenburg in 1945, and Rie followed her schooling by studying nursing. She met Joe de Haan at Rozenburg and the couple married on June 6, 1947.
Rie de Haan marked her 100th birthday in Te Awamutu last week. Photo: Viv Posselt
Rie’s brother Pieter, who had settled in New Zealand after completing army service in Indonesia, wrote to the couple saying there was a job available milking 240 cows in Te Awamutu. They migrated with their young son Andre, and soon added to their family with the arrival of daughter Johanna.
Rie and Joe took on a sharemilking job in Tokoroa. In 1955 they tendered for a 365-acre scrub block in Honikiwi, Ōtorohanga, and got it – they sold the cows and sheep and went 39 per cent milking in Matamata. While there, Joe and Rie arranged to have 65 acres of their land in Honikiwi leased to a neighbour, then bulldozed a flat area where they planned to build a house and a shed. Rie and Joe moved back there in 1959, sleeping in the by then completed shed and building their house room by room using boards salvaged and cut from windfall trees they accessed while in Matamata. During the build, Andre and Johanna stayed with their aunt and uncle.
Once established, potatoes became the main source of income for 16 years until beef became more profitable and the couple’s calf-rearing and bull farming prospered. Rie educated the children via correspondence.
The cupcake cake made for Rie de Haan’s birthday. Photo: Viv Posselt
Turning the scrub farm into a going concern was tough. Joe died in 1992 and Rie carried on farming, finally learning to drive at the age of 65. Her new-found mobility meant she was also able to continue pursuing her interest in spinning and weaving and attending Lyceum club meetings in town. Latterly, she has enjoyed swimming for seniors in Ōtorohanga and travelling with friends.
Rie appreciated the cards she received from prime minister Chris Luxon, MP Barbara Kuriger, Netherlands Ambassador Ard van der Vorst, and Waipā mayor Susan O’Regan, who dropped into her birthday party.
She said the secret to her long life was quite simple: “It’s hard work … that’s what keeps you going.”
Te Awamutu and Districts Pipe Band piper Graham Lyttle congratulating Rie de Haan on her 100th birthday. Photo: Viv Posselt
