A very special east Auckland resident is today celebrating a major milestone.
Former Howick Village Association town centre manager Jenny Foster contacted the Times about her mother-in-law Leila May Foster turning 100 years old on June 18.
Known to friends and family as Lee, she was born in Greenlane, Auckland, and had two sisters, Betty, who’s still alive and well and Joan, who’s passed away.
Lee married her husband Clifford Elliot Foster in August, 1948, and they have four children, Lindsay, Glenn, Ian and Jennifer.
Foster says: “Her education began at Cornwall Park School up to 1937.
“Then she went to Epsom Girls Grammar until 1941, after which she began her first job at the Bank of New Zealand in Queen Street, Auckland, until August, 1948, when she left the bank and married Clifford Foster.
“In 1976 she attended Manukau Technical Institute to train for re-entering the work force.
“She gained a position at [timber merchants] Cashmore Bros in Newmarket until 1986, when she retired.
“Her first house in the eastern area was in Greenhill Crescent, Pakuranga, moving later to Citation Way in Botany Downs.”
Foster says Lee was active in the local community and a keen member of the Howick Horticultural Society and Probus Club.
“Lee was also a wonderful knitter and spent countless hours knitting for babies in need at Middlemore Hospital.
“She was wonderful at handcrafts and sewing and all her children and grandchildren delighted in receiving their very own individually-designed birthday and Christmas cards.”
Lee has four children, seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
