If you can believe it, 15 residents at the Canterbury Foundation in west Edmonton are celebrating their 100th (and beyond) birthdays!
Irene is celebrating her 109th birthday.
Some other residents turning 100 joked that 109 is even old for them.
Canterbury Foundation hosted a birthday bash for the residents and unveiled a new 100+ wall. The wall will have photos to celebrate each resident’s milestone.
“We realized that amongst us we have over 15 individuals that are over the age of 100 and we thought it was really important to take a moment to celebrate those lives, the rich experiences and what they have done for our community over the many years,” said Heidi Hadubiak with the Canterbury Foundation.
Edna Marie Sinclair is 100 and a half. It didn’t take long to learn that her positive attitude and humor light up the room.
“My maiden name is Thompson. The wet way. Do you know what that is?” she asked our videographer Wes Rosa.
Wes answered: “No I don’t.”
“It’s got a ‘p’ in it,” she laughed.
And with that she began to share her life. She grew up in Lethbridge, Alta. She has lived her life looking on the bright side, even when things were tough.
During the Second World War she said all the men were all deployed. At that time, she was in high school and university and she had to decide her future profession.
“In those days, you became a teacher, a nurse, a secretary or a hairdresser. That was the choice we had when I was going to school. That isn’t that many, is it? I chose to be a secretary.”
She remembers the past and celebrates how much has changed since then.
“Now look what you can choose if you want. It’s a wonderful, wonderful world to be in for choices,” said Sinclair.
Her husband was in the navy and they met when he came home on leave.
“He had seen a picture of me with a fellow I went to school with, and my husband said I would like to meet her. So that’s how we met through another navy guy,” said Sinclair.
Sinclair and her husband had three boys together.
“My oldest is 73. Hard to believe. I’ve got one that is 73,” she laughed. “But I was married when I was 25 and I had my first baby when I was 27 years old.”
Sinclair has so much gratitude and is thankful she still has her health. At 100 and a half she still tries to walk every day if the weather is good. She says it’s important to dwell on the positive and not the negatives.
“It’s being happy in your own skin and live each day the best you can. Live well, get rest and be happy if you can. It takes a lot of energy to be angry,” she explained.
“If you can see the good things in life, that’s the best way to go. You try anyway. Some days don’t go that way, but you make the best of them.”
Marjorie Lilley is 100 years old and a couple of months. She grew up in Lloydminster and married her husband in 1949.
She remembers growing up in the depression. Her family lived on a farm, so she said she was fortunate.
“I felt sorry for some of the city families where things were pretty rough. My father had died just as a I turned seven, so my mother had quite a struggle finding enough money from the farm to pay the hired man because we had to have hired help, but she managed.
Lilley admires what her mother accomplished during the depression after her husband.
“I have often thought back over the years as to what it must have been like for her, what a struggle it was and how well she balanced,” said Lilley.
Lilley lost her husband about 25 years ago. Both Lilley’s children are retired doctors. Her daughter is a retired physiatrist in Toronto and her son her a retired anesthesiologist living in Edmonton.
Her advice for others is quite simple: “Just take care of yourself, live sensibly, don’t live stupidly.”
The Canterbury Foundation a faith-based not to profit. It provides a range of care from independent, supportive, dementia care to now long-term care and end-of-life care. It has been open for 50 years.