Not many people reach 100, but Cathie Smith has celebrated the remarkable milestone.
Surrounded by family and friends, Bonnyville’s own centenarian marked the occasion at Extendicare on Wednesday, June 26.
She offered her thanks to everyone who attended because “you just made the day for me.”
Smith received plaques from the Town and MD of Bonnyville in honour of her 100th birthday.
Jean Smith Mottershead, Smith’s daughter, described the celebration as fantastic.
”The staff did such a great job decorating the place,” she expressed.
Smith wowed party goers with her talents on the piano. She’s been playing since she was nine-years-old, and is mainly self taught.
”I remember the night they brought the piano home. It was a snowy, cold winter night and we heard this rattle of chains. Pop said, ‘I guess that would be the piano,’” she recalled. “Sure enough, it was.”
Smith Mottershead said, “People can call out any song up until the 1950s or so, the turn of the century before that, all the big songs are in her head, because she used to sing all the time at home.”
Smith was born in 1919 along with her twin brother, Alex, in Chicken Hill. It came as quite a shock to her parents, William and Helen Ross, to learn they were having the pair.
Although Smith met her husband, Danny, when they were young, they didn’t get married until 1940.
They had four children, before Smith became a teacher. For six years she taught Grade 1 at Glendon School, and spent 12 years in a classroom teaching at Duclos.
She described receiving her teacher’s certificate as one of “the greatest things I’ve ever done.”
”(I became a teacher) because I remember learning how to read, what a pleasure it was, and I always kind of fancied teaching someone to read,” she said.
Smith believes she has lived a full life, and said she’s still going strong.
”I’m so lucky I’m in good shape,” she exclaimed.
In 2017, Smith shared her knowledge and wisdom in her memoir, In Sunshine and in Shadow: A Daughter’s View on Homesteading and Beyond. With the help of Smith Mottershead, she told her family’s story.
Smith Mottershead described her mother as “very enthusiastic about life, even though she’s in a wheelchair.’”
”One thing that I think is most special about her is she’s never down,” she continued. “She’s always in high spirits, and she doesn’t worry about anything. Even when a situation might be scary, she assumes that everything will work out and it does seem to. She’s a positive thinker.”
