There is a super centenarian living in our midst.
Jennie Sutherland, who celebrated her birthday on Oct. 4 at the Senior Drop-In Centre in Barrhead, is 110 years old and is the second oldest Albertan living today.
“We hunted on the internet to see if she was the oldest person in Alberta and as far as we could tell she was, but after the CBC did their article we found out there is a lady in Calgary who celebrated her 110th in August,” Leona Stocking, Sutherland’s daughter, said.
Having witnessed two major world wars, the Great Depression and the advent of the Internet, Sutherland has seen a lot of changes in the world since she was born in 1906.
“My parents emigrated from Norway to Minnesota before I was born and later, we travelled by train to Oregon and then by truck to the border into Alberta,” she said, adding one of her best memories is of her mother’s very first time on horseback.
“We were picking strawberries two-and-a-half kilometres from where we lived and it was very hot out,” she said. “I’d brought my horse with us and my mother had run out of coffee, so I went to get her some from a store in Mosside. When I got back, her face was as red as a beet.”
Sutherland said her mother was a ‘stout lady’ and it took some careful planning on the part of both herself and the horse.
“Eventually we got her up there and home again. She was so happy. It was the first and only time she was ever on horseback. My sister was so mad at me, but what was I going to do? Leave her on the side of the road?”
Sutherland attributes exercise, faith, honesty and a positive attitude to her longevity.
“Those are the most important things in life and I live by them,” she said.
Stocking said her mother had participated in Yoga and Tai-Chi exercises well into her late 90s.
“Exercise is really important,” Sutherland said, adding that while she is finding it tougher to do so now that she lives at Shepherd’s Care in Barrhead. However, she said she still walks with the aid of a wheelchair.
“I can’t see very good or hear very good anymore so I don’t have a TV or a radio and I rely on what other people tell me. I don’t go very far from the home centre anymore because I am afraid of getting lost. At my age, it doesn’t take much for me to get turned around.”
Asked who she thought was the more handsome man — Brad Pitt or Harrison Ford, Sutherland said she’s never given it a thought.
“Looks are only skin-deep. I think if you are kind, that is more important than your looks,” she said.
A person’s attitude is paramount, Sutherland added.
