Last hurray: 100yo celebrates his birthday before dying peacefully on the same day

Alf Lyon always said that he would reach his 100th birthday.

He did just that: celebrate with a large chocolate cake, balloons, and a band of tambourines, before dying peacefully that same day, Friday, October 23.

“He had a piece of chocolate cake and then he left, and he just stopped by that afternoon at 5 o’clock,” his youngest son, Graham Lyon, 65, told the Herald.

A resident of Grace Joel Retirement Village in Auckland’s St. Heliers, the centennial room was decorated with gold balloons on one side as the all-important birthday cake was brought out.

She had all her letters of appreciation lined up on her nightstand: from Queen Elizabeth II, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Auckland Mayor Phil Goff, and Governor General Dame Patsy Reddy.

Staff members sang “happy birthday” to Alf as he lay in his bed, just hours before he sneaks away.

“Obviously there is that emotion. But when you’ve hit 100, there’s nothing else I can do,” Graham said.

“He was carrying his bat and it was on the stumps. It was a celebration of a man’s life.”

Officially named Albert Alfred Lyon, Alf was born on October 23, 1920, to parents Henry Charles and Susan Lyon, of Tangimoana.

After a harrowing years with the end of World War I and the deadly Spanish flu pandemic, the new baby was a welcome addition to the already large unit.

Graham Lyon said that his father would be the youngest of his six or eight siblings, after his father drowned when Alf was still a small child.

His mother worked hard to take care of her children; selling ice cream and opening tea rooms to support them.

One of the many stories that their father, who grew up in Manawatū, shared with them was one that had become a family secret but a local legend in Tangimoana.

“One day Alf and his brothers made a moa print. They went down to the river and stamped the moa print all over the river.

“Someone must have found and reported it, and suddenly it was in the (newspaper) and everyone was heading there to hunt the moa.

“The guys never let it be seen that it was them. It started as a joke and it became something beyond them, it became their own legend.”

In later years, Alf followed in his mother’s footsteps and became a businessman and grocer; running supermarkets and small shops with his wife Jessie in Auckland.

The family also lived at Linton Military Base and Whenuapai Air Base for some time, as the couple ran the dining rooms there.

Graham clearly remembers seeing members of The Beatles when they landed on the base in 1964.

A couple of the stores the couple owned were on Hills Rd in Otara and Richmond Rd in Gray Lynn in the 1960s.

With the predominantly Polynesian population at the time, the couple became more than just local grocers: They helped families budget and never turned anyone away who needed their help, Graham said.

“They were soon known as Uncle Alf and Aunt Jess.

“Mom and Dad always had a sense of caring and they used to say that if you take care of people, they will always take care of you too.

“That defines us and our family structure and beliefs even today.”

In later years, after his wife’s death, Alf married Dora Whitfield in 1983 and was also a proud stepfather in later years, Graham said.

A private cremation has been held and the family is planning a special memorial service to remember their father and father at a later date.

Alf is survived by his children Paul, Christine, Graham and their families.