Minnamurra’s John Wain celebrated his 100th birthday yesterday - as a happy man whose life has been full of travel, love, family, friends and adherence to a simple philosophy of enjoying life.

Born and raised in Melbourne, he enlisted there for World War II and was sent to Darwin in 1942 as part of the surveying effort.

“I had a pretty good war,” says John.

“Because I had a good score from school, someone decided to put me into the survey corp which I knew nothing about.

“We were in the Northern Territory for nearly a year and made a lot of maps there before we were sent to Morotai, which was an American base with some parts occupied by the Japanese.”

After the War, John lived in Canberra, Brisbane, Jakarta and Christchurch, working as a trade official, before retiring to Kiama in 1987 with his late wife Sorrell.

John met Sorrell in Canberra and says it was love at first sight.

“We married in Canberra in 1948,” he says.

“We did everything together and enjoyed life.”

Since retiring, John has worked on his life story, finding out about his family history and recording his memories for his children and grandchildren to look back on.

“I enjoy writing and I thought I should record my story for them,” he says.

“I’ve been to 27 countries on five continents and did 41 years of public service.

“I have 10 grandchildren altogether, so it’s called Grandfather’s Story.”

John’s advice to not only “try to enjoy life” but to “never worry” because “nothing matters half as much as you think it does” still resonates with him as he reaches his 100th year.

“That motto hung on my kitchen wall when I was a kid and it was one of the first things I can remember about that house,” he says.

“The only other advice is to keep smiling.”