By Thia James

Family gathers to celebrate 100th birthday

Jan 4, 2015 | 2:22 PM

At Good Shepherd Villa, family and friends gathered to celebrate the 100th birthday of a woman who was born on New Year’s Day.

The special Friday afternoon celebration brought her son Eric and his sons, Kenny and Danny, to Prince Albert from Texas. Business-related transfers took Eric to the Lonestar State, where he has lived ever since. He returns to Saskatchewan a couple of times a year.

The day before, her younger sister Vickie, asked her if she remembered the time of day she was born.

“And she said, ‘how would I remember, I was a baby,’” Eric recalled with a laugh. “So, she still has a very sharp tongue.”

Stella was born and raised in Strong Pine, Sask., which is east of Prince Albert. She lived on a farm with her parents, and in her late teens, she moved to Prince Albert, where she worked as a nanny for a lawyer’s family.

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In 1935, she married Peter Austin, a school teacher and only child Eric was born in 1937. Peter tried to enlist in the Canadian Armed Forces during the Second World War, but was turned down because he had a heart defect. He then went to Montreal to work as an instructor for the Canadian Artillery School in St. Jerome, Que. Stella and Eric followed in 1942.

Eric’s parents remained in St. Jerome until the 1970s. Until then, Peter became a school teacher, then principal, then director of education. Stella worked in a munitions plant during the war, then went on to work for Eaton’s for 25 years.

“They retired to Prince Albert in 1972, and enjoyed retirement until 1984, when my dad passed away,” Eric said.

Before that, Stella remained active in a number of activities, including bridge, bowling and volunteer work until a few years ago, when she moved to Good Shepherd. Eric said his mother has been well looked after by the home’s staff and its administrator.

For Eric, the celebration at Good Shepherd was a great honour and amazing, both because it brought the family together and that his mother is 100 years old.

Members of her family too have lived long lives – her mother lived until the age of 96. But Eric takes another factor into account.

“Mom looked after herself over the years and … was very health conscious and what have you, and was very active physically, which of course … helped, I would think, very, very much in terms of longevity.

“So there she is, a hundred years old.”

-With files from Chelsea Laskowski.

tjames@panow.com

On Twitter: @thiajames