Isabelle Glass, known as Nettie, will celebrate her 100th birthday today in Oamaru.
Mrs Glass (nee Ellis) is a resident at Observatory Village and will celebrate the milestone with an afternoon tea.
A lifelong Oamaru local, she grew up on a farm in Five Forks.
During World War 2, she was in charge of the army telephone exchange.
"I enjoyed the army — it was a good life."
It became a much more female-dominated team during her time there.
"We always laughed there were five men [working] when we went in. By the time we took it over there were four women."
Her most significant memory of the war was helping a group of 28 soldiers call home after being held prisoner in Japan, she said.
She was vital in this process and was asked directly to oversee it.
After the war, she married Stewart McLean in 1950.
The couple had two children together before Mr McLean died in 1976.
She remarried in 1994 to Les Glass.
