Newspaper Article 2018 – Ipad keeps centenarian connected

iPad keeps centenarian connected

By Anneke Smith
anneke.smith[@]hbtoday.co.nz

Claude Davidson may be turning 100 this weekend but that hasn’t stopped him from embracing new challenges in the latest technologies.

The Hastings man first laid eyes on an iPad when his son visited his Hastings flat and he said, “I’ve got to have one of those!”

Now he plays solitaire, looks up baking recipes, tracks planes and ships around the globe and even has a Facebook profile.

Born in Wellington, he moved to Hastings aged 5 and is still there, 95 years later.

“I’ve had a good life. I’ve got no regrets and could drop dead tomorrow. When you’ve got a family, money doesn’t mean anything because family is everything.

“You watch them all grow up, they’re like plants, and if you’ve got family, you don’t need anything else.”

Davidson raised four sons with wife Joan, who passed away four years ago, and began his working life as a window washer, when he was just 14.

He went on to work at Cudby and Kelt Motor Engineers and the Whakatu freezing works before working as an operations engineer and harvesting manager at Unilever where he oversaw more than 70 students in pea harvesting.

“Oh, how the whole of Hastings has changed over time. I could tell you where all the shops used to be.

“I was in Grieve Diamond Jeweller’s the other day and told them it used to be a bakery.”

He enjoyed 75 years of marriage with Joan, and even got a congratulatory letter from the Queen on their diamond anniversary.

“I had a good wife. I never had to worry about meals and she was a great cook. She held the family together while I did the work and handed over the envelope to run the house.

“She said I’d never survive after she died. Men didn’t ever go into the kitchen. I had to learn how to cook myself and often get a leg of lamb and do a roast dinner now.”

Life is very different for Davidson now. He keeps himself busy with gardening, baking and socialising at the local seniors club.

“I grow my own veges and bake cakes and biscuits. You get wet days and you’ve got to use your time, otherwise you’ll get bored.”

Having spent almost his entire life in Hawke’s Bay, he said the region’s biggest perk was its weather.

“The weather is always the best weather in the country.”

He said he lived his life as if everyone was his friend, and was concerned that people didn’t care enough for one another nowadays.

“It’s going to pieces. Everybody in, my time was your mate. You helped everyone and if you had surplus veges, you shared them with others. You helped your neighbour.

“That’s what they’re losing today. Parents don’t look after their children and their children couldn’t care less about them.”

The tech-savvy senior has an iPhone and an iPad which he uses to keep in touch with his seven grandchildren, 17 great grandchildren and handful of great great grandchildren.

He said he watched his great granddaughter graduate last weekend through a live stream but said he wasn’t using the technology to make new friends.

“I never got in to making friends. I don’t want to be getting involved with women anymore. I’ve had one and I couldn’t train another one after 75 years.”

Around 50 family members and friends were expected to meet for a birthday lunch at Mission Estate today and, when spoken to earlier this week, he said he didn’t expect a card from the Queen to show up until today. “I might die between now and the weekend so they won’t send it until then.”

Q & A with Claude

Who was your favourite Prime Minister?
John Key stands out because he was a likable sort.

What is your best childhood memory?
When I was about five I got a toy carpentry set and my sister got a doll’s house and I cut it in half.

Do you have a favourite song?
Anything by Acker Bilk because it’s relaxing.

If you could travel anywhere in the world where would you go?
China. It’s going to be the leader of the world and it’s even getting ahead of America.

What was a defining moment in your life?
Marrying my wife in an Anglican church in Napier in 1938.

What would you do if you won the lottery?
1 don’t need anything else, there’s nothing in my life that I want, so I’d see that my family was set up.

Do you have any phobias?
No. Nothing worries me like that. It’s all in your mind and if you say you can’t do something you’re beaten straight away.

What is a skill you would love to learn? Music. I would love to learn how to play the trombone but if I did people would have nothing to do with me because I’d be playing it all the time.

What is one piece of advice you would give to others?
Look at other people’s opinions and accept them. Don’t try to change them just look at them and accept them.

Photo caption – Hastings centenarian Claude Davidson will celebrate his milestone birthday with a family lunch when he will meet some of his youngest relatives for the first time.
PHOTO / DUNCAN BROWN