megram - Index

megram - 55JunOttawa - Index

Who’s senior now?
If 100 is the new 80, isn’t
a 65-year-old practically a kid?
Downsize
your home,
upgrade
your life.
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June 2008 • Ottawa 28 • Fifty-Five Plus Magazine
Amy Drake, Doris Martin, Nettie Dabeka,
Enfrozyna Kaminski and Helen Goslinski belong
to the same club.Although it’s still pretty exclusive,
membership is growing and a lot of folks
are probably keen to join.
While there are no regular meetings,
there is a name for the group: The Canadian
Centenarians.
All five of these ladies have reached the
age of 100 – or better.
On this very day in 1908 – the same year
the Model T was introduced – Helen may have
been learning to walk. She was one. Doris was a
toddler and Enfrozyna had reached the lofty
age of nine – a stage distinguished by knobby
knees and wiggly teeth. Nettie and Amy were
fresh to the world.
And what a world it was back then.
Insulin, penicillin, the polio vaccine, MRIs,
CAT scans and ultrasounds didn’t exist. Motion
pictures were silent, radio broadcasting was in
its infancy and television was yet to come.
In Canada – as well as just about every
other country – women did not have the right
to vote and most homes had neither electricity
nor indoor plumbing.
Two World Wars, the Great Depression, the
Holocaust and the nuclear age loomed ahead.
The technological revolution, cell phones and
ipods were still the stuff of science fiction.
These ladies were around for it all – and
have lived to tell the tale. In fact Enfrozyna has
been an inhabitant of Planet Earth in three different
centuries.
While their life stories are undoubtedly
different, Amy, Doris, Nettie, Enfrozyna and
Helen have a couple of things in common.
All five are women of strong faith. And
they live in a caring, lively, close community –
St. Patrick’s Home of Ottawa.
Awhile back, there was a special event –
the party of the century – to pay tribute to
them.
There’s certainly plenty to celebrate. We
have much to learn from our centenarians. For
one thing, they’re a couple of generations older
than a newly minted, 65-year-old senior – and
show us that there’s a lot of living to be done
and enjoyed after the traditional age of retirement.What’s
more, they’ve successfully weathered
monumental societal change and the
unassailable physical impacts of time.
What’s the secret to this longevity?
Eating your veggies? Saying no to tobacco?
Passing up the vino or drinking a glass of
red each day? Tipping the scales at a healthy
weight and kissing the junk-food aisle farewell?
You can actually try and figure it out –
via the internet at www.livingto100.com. The