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19
Apr
20
Gananoque woman turns 100 during COVID-19 pandemic
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Gananoque woman turns 100 during COVID-19 pandemic Featured

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When Kay Garland was born in Newfoundland in the spring of 1920, it was the best of times and the worst of times.

The 1920s was a decade of change. Many Canadians owned cars, radios and telephones for the first time. The cars brought the need for good roads. The radio brought the world closer to home. The telephone connected families and friends. Prosperity was on the rise in cities and towns, and social change flavoured the air. Women shortened, or bobbed, their hair. Flappers danced and wore short fancy dresses. Men shaved off their beards.

Toward the end of the decade in October 1929, the stock market crashed, and America’s invested wealth suddenly lost $26 billion in value. This collapse caused a social and economic shock that left millions of Canadians unemployed, hungry and often homeless. Prosperity ended and was replaced by hardship called the Dirty Thirties. The economic boom and Jazz Age were over. North America was in the Great Depression. 


 

Kay Garland was a young girl living in a remote fishing village in Canada when all of this took place.

“I was born April 24, 1920 on Flat Island,” she says nostalgically from her room at Carveth Care Centre, a long-term care home in Gananoque where she has lived for the past nine years.

“I had a wonderful childhood,” she explains. “We fished and explored until our hearts were content. I can still remember the earthquake in 1929. A tidal wave came within 15 feet of our front door. Things like that stand-out in your memory.”

Kay attended a two-room schoolhouse with her brother and sister until Grade 11. After that, students had to go to St. John’s to be educated and trained.

Sadly, Kay has outlived her brother, husband and son. She treasurers her close relationship with her sister who lives in Brockville and is extremely proud of her daughter-in-law and grandson.

Asked about her status as a centenarian, she notes, “I think it’s great that I’ve had that much time, but it doesn’t seem that long. I can’t believe I’m 100, but my birth certificate says so.”

Speaking on behalf of the popular nursing home, Activity Director Shannon Buell notes, “Kay is a wise woman and has a wonderful sense of humour. She has a clear mind and we enjoyed incredible conversations when she served on the Board of Directors for the Ontario Association of Residents’ Council.  When we travelled back and forth to Ottawa, Kay talked a lot about her late husband and son whom she adored. She even talked about the time she had tuberculosis.”

Surrounded by her crafts and artwork, Kay appears comfortable in her room that is filled with colour and sunshine. She covers her legs with a blanket she crocheted .

Asked about her secret of longevity, Kay replies. “Keep busy.”

“I’ve always kept very busy with crafts and hard work,” she explains. “When I was younger, I taught Sunday School and volunteered with my son’s youth group. I’ve been busy all my life.”

Asked if she minds the home’s infection control measures to prevent COVID-19, Kay notes, “It’s fine. I used to walk around the home, but I don’t do that anymore. I just go straight from my room to the dining room, now. I did have visitors outside of my window over the Easter weekend which was nice.”

Looking back over the last 100 years, Kay feels penicillin is mankind’s greatest invention. Looking ahead, she would like to travel when the pandemic is over.

“I’ve been to Israel, Rome and England,” Kay says happily. “I would love to be able to take a cruise someday and see South America.”

Carveth Care Centre is delighted to celebrate the 100th birthday of Kay Garland on April 24. To learn more about living or working in our home, please call 613-382-4752.

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