Dick Woods bought a bottle of champagne for his darling wife during his World War I adventures. The problem was, she didn't drink. About 107 years later, the unopened bottle is now a family heirloom.
Patricia Klitscher is Dick's 103-year-old daughter. The lively centenarian keeps the bottle safe at her retirement home in Tauranga.
She says the gift will be passed down through the family, and has remained unopened, even after her sisters thought it may be cracked open on one of their wedding days. 'I was the last one of three sisters to get married, and since they didn't open it, I wasn't going to either. It would have been vinegar by the time I was wed anyway,” says Patricia.
Lois Cubis is Patricia's daughter, and Dick's granddaughter. Lois says she struggled to find a bottle as old as her family's during a visit to the winery it came from in Reims, France.
Dick's story
'During my visit to the Pommery vineyard in Reims, France, I was looking for bottles dated 1920. This one is actually from 1916. Unfortunately, the day I was there no one was able to help me find a bottle from that year.” Patricia says her father used the Second Boer War to escape his family home of 12 siblings in Bognor Regis, England. 'He said to himself: ‘If I join the army, I'll have food, a bed, and money at the end of the week'. He was only 16 but went in just the same,” says Patricia. Her father told the army recruiter he was 16, but 'could look 18” because he was 'a big lad”.
Years later, he was enlisted in World War I, where he visited Reims and bought the champagne for his wife.
Growing up with the war veteran wasn't easy however, according to Patricia. 'He was sick a lot of the time from the effects of the mustard gas. As children we weren't allowed to make a noise because we were told it would upset him. He also had mood swings because of the war.”
Fond memories
Patricia has many fond memories of childhood but says her father 'ruled with an iron rod” over her teenage years. 'He was a very kind, loving father. I always look back on my childhood as being very happy – except on those occasions when dad was ill.”
As far as the bottle goes, Patricia is happy this piece of family history will be passed down the generations. 'The girls seem a bit more interested. The boys, well they might just crack it open and be done with it,” Patricia laughs.