Beloved former Maitland Hospital night nurse Sylvia Deering celebrates her 100th birthday

Mrs Deering isn't so sure about that though - she believes simply taking each day as it comes has been the key.

A beloved former nurse at Maitland Hospital, Mrs Deering can now call herself a centenarian after celebrating her 100^th birthday on Friday, March 25.

Mrs Deering is still very active and said her independence is very important to her.

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She still drives her car, lives in her own villa at a Shoal Bay retirement village and walks about half a kilometre to attend Legacy meetings, assisted by her walker.

Mrs Deering's birthday was celebrated with friends and family from near and far, some who she hadn't seen in years because of COVID, and some who made the journey from Queensland and Victoria.

She has three wonderful daughters, Joanne, Suzanne and April, and married her late husband, Ben, in 1945 just after World War II.

Mrs Deering said her future husband first laid eyes on her when she was performing in an end-of-war celebration concert at the hospital, attended by some soldiers from Greta camp.

"Well I wasn't blessed with a good voice but I did sing 'Annie Get Your Gun' and 'How Ya Gonna Keep 'Em Down on the Farm (After They've Seen Paree?)' with cowboy clothes and pigtails with big bows on them," she said.

"Three of us played a trio on the one piano which I think was quite a pretty little piece.

"That's where my husband first saw me."

Mr and Mrs Deering lived in Bolwarra Heights for about 30 years, and Mr Deering worked as a builder.

Mrs Deering said she mostly worked night shifts at the Maitland Hospital, and loved the friendships she made with the other nurses.

"At that time we lived in the hospital in the nurses home and you weren't allowed to be married when you were training, so we all were mostly together. It was a really friendly thing," she said.

Mrs Deering is humble about her life, and said there has been nothing particularly special about it - she's just lived it.

The thing that makes life special these days, though, is her daughters.

"Family, that's the main thing, the fact there's always somebody... and even now, these three girls, they are absolutely beautiful, they'll always be here," she said.

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