Olive Oldfield

Edith Olive Oldfield (4 December 1906 – 17 August 2015) was a centenarian from New Zealand who was the country’s oldest known living person for nearly a year.

Biography
Oldfield was born in Auckland in 1906. Although her first name was Edith, she always went by her middle name. She was one of eight children in her family, and her father worked at a timber mill.

At one point in her life, she lived with her grandparents in Mangere- her home would later become the home of Prime Minister David Lange. She left school at age 14 to work as a nanny, and later a seamstress. She had learned to sew her own dresses at the age of 12.

Olive married in 1927, and later drove trucks for the Red Cross during World War II. She had two children, four grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren and five great-great grandchildren.

She first moved to Northland in 1940, but moved back to Auckland in 1948. It wasn't until 1996 that she moved back. She moved into a retirement home at the age of 98.

Olive credited her longevity to "decent living", not smoking or drinking alcohol, and dancing. She became New Zealand's oldest living person after the death of 110-year old Peg Griffin of 6 October 2014.

Olive Oldfield died on 17 August 2015 at the age of 108. Her title was then passed onto 108-year old Madeline Anderson of Upper Hutt.