Pat Colborne had no trouble pinning down what to do to celebrate her 100th birthday.
The newly-minted centenarian from Winnipeg went bowling with her friends to mark the occasion — the same thing she’s done nearly every week for more than 70 years.
“It’s great exercise and I love it,” said Colborne, who turned 100 late last week and told Global News Tuesday she has yet to stop partying.
And why not? Colborne says keeping active is part of what keeps her young.
“If you just sit down when you’re older you’re going to get older,” she said before lacing up her bowling shoes.
“If you don’t do anything you’ll pretty soon not be able too — and that’s getting old.”
Colborne, who has lived in Winnipeg her whole life, has certainly kept busy.
She started bowling in the fall of 1945 in a league she helped organize to give soldiers returning from the Second World War something to do.
“In a week we had 60 people and we started our league and we bowled together on Saturday nights for years after that,” she remembered.
“It was a great thing and it was a nice way to welcome everybody back and get us into the swing of things.”
And she hasn’t stopped.
Colborne is now involved in a league that sees her and a group of ladies — known as the Uptown Sweethearts — meet every week to bowl a few frames and share a few laughs.
This week her friends surprised her with a cake before they hit the lanes.
“It’s like having a party every Tuesday,” she said of the group she joined a year ago.
“They’re a real part of my life now.”
When asked if she has any advice for young people hoping to see their 100th year, Colborne says the secret to a long life is simple.
“Keep busy and do something you like,” she said.
“It’s not that you’re growing old it’s that you’re old because you’re not growing.”
–With files from Brittany Greenslade
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