Local resident Nita Lench recently celebrated her centenary at Dubbo Homestead Care Community.

Nita was born on May 23, 1926, at Trangie, an hour north-west of Dubbo, and grew up with sisters, Marie and Joyce, and brother, William.

This was a world without smartphones, without the internet, without TV and many of the conveniences we take for granted. Nita saw the rise and fall of countries, the birth of new nations, the first man on the moon, and the dawn of the technological age learning to use an iPad in her mid- eighties.

A hundred years is not just a measure of time: it's a measure of impact.

Nita married on January 25, 1959, and raised six children. Today, at 100, Nita also has numerous grandchildren and greatgrandchildren.

Like many others, Nita lived through challenges that would have broken lesser spirits, including World War II, economic hardships, personal losses. All the time she carried herself with resilience, believing in hard work and education.

Friends have been very important to Nita during her long life, and she has enjoyed many interests including cooking, bingo, puzzles, China painting, knitting, crocheting, socialising, and gardening. Documenting and publishing the family history with her sister Marie was also an important project.

How do you capture a hundred years of a life? How do you put into words what that life has witnessed, and how the world changed in ways that younger generations can only read about in history records?

We have a snapshot of this in our beautiful Nita. Happy 100th birthday!