Rose Mischewski is happy chewing the fat with her grandson’s wife as she shuffles to her favourite spot in the sunroom, laughter chortling from her every time she’s asked another question about herself. “Where’s all this going?” asked the new centenarian.

Once she heard it was to be printed in the local paper, she replied: “Oh, bloody hell!” followed by more laughter.

Rose Nellie Amundsen was born May 13, 1926, to Alfred and Annie Amundsen of Horopito, a rural area between the village of National Park and town of Raetihi.

Growing up

She became the oldest of five children. “My brothers were Ron, Don and Colin and my sister was Matilda,” Rose said. “We grew up on a farm under the mountain of Ruapehu.”

But she was scared of animals. “Especially the cows – we had about 10 that had to be milked,” she said. “And I never learned how to swim.”

She played the piano accordion “but I had no music lessons”. “My sister had lessons and I used to watch and listen to her and then try.”

Rose Mischewski playing the piano accordion. Photo / Supplied

As a teen, Rose loved to go to the pictures. “There were good movies in those days.” She also loved going to dances on Saturday night in her youth, dancing with young sailors.

“It was scary walking home in the dark. I’d follow the railway line and head up into the hills until the train went past… well, you had to do it! Or else you’d be staying home,” she laughed. “I had a little dog and I named him Sailor. He’d be waiting at the fence.”

If it was raining or snowing, Rose and her friends wore gumboots to the dance. “We’d take them off at the door and put our shoes on. Oh, it was funny.”

Enter ‘Chum’

She married Clarence “Chum” Joseph Mischewski when she was aged 19 at the Ohakune registry office in 1945. He’d come home from World War II after serving with the army at Guadalcanal when he met Rose.

“He worked in the sawmill and I used to work in the cookhouse, serving meals and cleaning dishes. There were so many dishes and Chum would come and help me wash them.”

It wasn’t love at first sight, but he took her to the pictures. Slowly love came. The couple had three children – Kevin, the late Brian and Linda.

Kevin said he was about 4 when the family moved to Tokoroa, a fledgling place that was growing with the forestry industry fuelling the local sawmill.

Brother-in-law Edward ‘Ted’ Mischewski, Rose Mischewski and her husband Clarence ‘Chum’ Mischewski and wife. Photo / Supplied

“It was a new town back then. Mum and dad had to go to Putāruru to get groceries. It was just a dirt road.”

Chum worked in the sawmill, among other jobs, while Rose raised the children. She also worked cleaning her children’s school and the bank, and at a grocer’s store. “I had to weigh up all the items like flour – everything was always spot on,” she said.

Kevin said his mother was strict. “You don’t eat your vegetables, you don’t get no pudding and you’d be sent to bed,” he said.

But she kept her children well-fed and cared for. Childhood holidays were spent at Whangamatā and the family moved to Papakura after 10 years in Tokoroa.

Her passions

In Papakura, Rose tended a big vegetable garden. “She loved gardening and she also was a baker.” Her steamed and plum puddings were legendary.

She also loved going into Auckland city to the casino with friend Beth. “They’d catch the train from South Auckland,” said her grandson’s wife Sonja Mischewski. “They took their own biscuits and got a free cup of tea at McDonald’s, then they’d go to the casino to play the pokies, and have fish and chips for dinner.”

“She was also an honorary member of Papakura RSA as she was part of a skiffle band, playing homemade instruments,” Kevin said. Unfortunately, Rose became what Kevin described as “the last of the Mohicans” as her friends died and the band folded. When Kevin’s wife died 25 years ago, his mother moved in with him – and never left. They moved to Katikati’s Fairview Estate nine years ago.

Rose Mischewski at home in Katikati, talking about 100 years of life. Photo / Merle Cave

Today, Rose has 16 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren. Despite having macular degeneration, the onset of dementia and a crook back, she’s determined to make it to 101.

Rose’s family held a centenary birthday party at Fairview Golf & Country Club for her on May 16, with 50-odd family and friends. She received birthday cards from King Charles III and Queen Camilla, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, Seniors Minister Casey Costello, Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro, and Coromandel MP Scott Simpson. “Oh, lovely!” said Rose, learning she’d outlived the Queen.

Pearls of wisdom

Asked what advice she’d give young people today, she said: “I’m buggered if I’d know…” followed by a hoot of laughter. “Eat your food up – plenty of it!”

Another pearl of wisdom: “Go ahead and enjoy your life and do what you want to do. Don’t try to do something someone else has done – just do what you want.”