The year was 1908. It was historically significant for women – and Linda Hopkins.

New York City banned women from smoking in public, Mother's Day was celebrated for the very first time and the first beauty contest was held in Folkestone, England.

Tauranga resident Linda Hopkins is set to turn 107 on January 19. Photo: Zoe Hunter.

Oh yes – and just up the road in London, Linda Hopkins was born. Do the math – yes, 1908 makes Linda 106 years old, perhaps the oldest woman in the Bay and in New Zealand.

The other events are a matter of history but Linda, now of Tauranga, is living history.

She'll be 107 in about 10 days and she's just fine, thank you very much. Alert, articulate, very mobile and with attitude – lots of attitude – and a flawless complexion.

But this story just about didn't happen.

The reporter sports clipped whiskers and Linda, going on 107 years, has learned 'not to trust men with beards”. Apart from that she has 'absolutely nothing of interest to tell” especially to the media and the rest of the world.

Well wrong! She lived through perhaps the most eventful century since the dawn of civilisation. For a start there were a couple of global wars.

'I saw a Zeppelin shot down in World War I,” she says. 'Part of it landed on my Dad's garden. A German with a gun climbed out of the crash as smart as you like.”

Daughter Shirley Pemberton, aged 84 and a fellow resident with mum at Bethlehem's Bob Owens Retirement Village, is riding shotgun for ‘Mother' today. She nods incredulously.

Has the ‘German' story grown legs over the years? It's a good story none-the-less, and had me hooked.

During World War II Linda hid under the kitchen table as the blitz raged.

'I wasn't frightened,” she admits. But I bet she wasn't. I'm sure Hitler wouldn't have contemplated an invasion if he knew he might encounter Linda and her attitude one day.

Then there were those huge shifts in politics, economics, society, science, technology and medicine.

But Linda kept things simple. 'Bike rides and picking bluebells; I just jogged along through it all.”

Then one summer Sunday evening at the band stand 14-year-old Linda happened on a 16-year-old.

'A smart, debonair young man with a cane.” He wore a 'nice suit with a handkerchief tucked in the pocket”.

Six years later Linda married her ‘Bert', they had daughter Shirley, travelled the world and moved to New Zealand.

Was there ever any disagreements, any arguments? 'Of course and I won them all.” I bet she did.

The marriage survived nearly eight decades, more than a life expectancy, until Burt passed in 2008 aged 101.

'I loved that man so much,” she says. Linda still wears his wrist watch, she strokes it often and lovingly like she's holding his hand. 'I still love him.”

At this point my colleague, The Weekend Sun photographer Zoe Hunter tears up. Zoe's a sucker for honest, real-life romance.

Bert's picture hangs in Linda's room where she still cares for herself. 'I talk to Bert every night. I tell him what I've been doing that day. I wonder if he can hear me. I wonder.” We all hope and pray Bert is listening.

Now the world – according to Linda – on young people. 'We never got drunk and fell over in the street. Life is too complicated and busy for them.”

Food? 'I eat anything, everything and anything.” Longevity? 'I have no idea why I've lived a wee bit longer than other people. Genes perhaps.” Although she lost her mother, aged 50, to cancer.

Alcohol? 'I don't drink beer, I only have a shandy.” Have I missed something?

I thank 106-year-old Linda for her time and remind her we can learn from her years and experience.

'Yes, but will you?”

A parting acerbic shot, a smile like a lunar event and a vice-like handshake – a person of many parts. Today Linda will be back knitting – she loves knitting.

'Something small for the Russian kids – something to keep them warm.”

People like Linda make a reporter's job an absolute pleasure and a privilege.

Happy 107^th on January 19 Linda, but of course you won't want a fuss.