Hundreds of years of love, knowledge, and experience were celebrated recently with the birthdays of three centenarians in Haldimand County. Of course, with COVID-19, the celebrations were nothing like the families, friends, and acquaintances would have liked them to be, but they were wonderful none the less. We at The Press congratulate all these individuals on their milestone birthdays and wish them continued health. If you know of any centenarians in Haldimand that could be highlighted in a future article, send your suggestion to publishers@haldimandpress.com. The following were written by The Haldimand Press’ Valerie Posthumus.
Hilda Hoogenboom turned 100 on March 21, 2021 and is shown with some flowers she received.
Hilda Hoogenboom
Hilda Hoogenboom was born in 1921 in Friesland, a province of the Netherlands. She turned 100 years old on March 21, 2021. Hoogenboom immigrated to Canada with her husband two years after World War II on a ship called the Tabinta. She laughed and said, “That was quite a while ago.” After docking they went by train to Toronto and from there to a farm in Brampton.
“Coming from Holland to here (Canada), you see a lot of different things, and your life is way different too … now you are on your own,” said Hoogenboom, calling the move one of the most amazing things she did in her life. “That is really something to move from your home, where you were born and went to school and church, to come to Canada and you don’t know anybody, and you don’t know your neighbour. That is very hard – and you don’t speak the language.”
Despite the difficulties, their family settled in and found a true home in Canada. Eventually they made their way to Waterford, then Hagersville, and finally settled on Concession 5 in Jarvis. She now lives at Leisure Living in Jarvis and has 22 grandchildren, 26 great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild.
Family is very important to Hoogenboom, who said her happiest time in Canada was “to get the first girl. We had two boys and we were 10 years married and then we got the first girl!”
It wouldn’t be her last girl, as she had had her two sons in Holland and then five girls in Canada.
She also loved to travel to places like Austria, Switzerland, and the United States. She said, “I’ve travelled more in the United States than Canada.”
The family followed COVID-19 protocols in order to celebrate with her as best they could the day prior to her birthday. On March 21, her 100th birthday, they live-streamed her church service from Ebenezer Christian Reformed Church in Jarvis, where they sang happy birthday to her. Then she sat outside in the sun in the afternoon, something she loves to do, and after had a special birthday supper from her daughter Betty’s family.
Of being 100, Hoogenboom said, “I think I’m very lucky. Being happy, that is a nice thing … and to go to church. That is important to my life; … it helped me through some bad times. To pray and go to God and prayer.”
Norma Edie is shown at her 103rd birthday last year on a motorcycle ride; while she wasn’t able to take such a ride this year for her 104th birthday on March 20, she would still have been up for it.
Norma Edie
Norma Edie, who was born and raised in Dunnville, turned 104 years young on March 20, 2021. She is the daughter of Byron and Carrie House and is the youngest of eight children. She had two children of her own, a boy and a girl who were 10 years apart. She was also a store clerk at Walkers Dry Goods store in the clothing department for many years.
Edie had some difficult teenage years, having to quit school when she was 15 because her sister died and, due to this, her mother had a breakdown. This caused her to end her formal schooling, although she would have eventually liked to become a teacher. She said, “I had to quit school to keep the house together until mother got over the breakdown.”
Her brother also sacrificed his career back in those days “when dad needed him.” She added, “That’s the way you did in those days…. We were a close family, and I didn’t fight with my mother and father. We worshipped Mom and Dad and the whole family; you don’t get that often anymore.”
What’s it like to have been alive for 100 years?
“I’m quite fair minded. I live day to day and I’ve always worked my butt off!” said Edie. “You can’t sit and complain, you have to keep going.”
Of course, the pandemic has curtailed a lot, but Edie said Edgewater Gardens, where she now lives, has done a wonderful job.
Like Hoogenboom, Edie can’t wait to get outside and enjoy the nice weather.
“Oh gosh, what didn’t they do for me; they did everything,” said Edie on her birthday celebrations at Edgewater. “Oh, we had a good time. They had games…. They had me on the go all the time.”
Edie certainly doesn’t believe in age slowing her down. Just last year when she was 103, the family got her back on a motorcycle. Something she had “done off and on all my life.” She added, “And I’d go again tomorrow!”
George Culver bundled up to watch cars drive by and send their birthday greetings for his 104th birthday on March 16. —Submitted photos.
George Culver
George Culver was born in Dunnville on March 16, 1917 and on March 16, 2021 he turned 104 years young. Culver doesn’t really have any one good piece of life advice or way to reach his age, he simply said, “I live a funny way in life; I believe in light therapy. “
When asked how he feels about living such a long time, he replied, “I feel pretty good. I worked hard in the summertime and I played in the wintertime. I made trips around the world. I had my 50th birthday in Brazil, walked the Great Wall of China, and been behind the wall in Berlin. Not too many people can say that.”
“I did a lot of things in my work that I shouldn’t have. Back then we didn’t have cell phones, we just had two-way radios. In fact, back in the 1960s we only had CBs,” he added, noting that travelling and work were the highlights of his life. “I wouldn’t want to be in business today; there are too many regulations now.”
Culver is proud he can claim being born before the NHL, which began in November of 1917 about eight months after his own birth. He laughed and said, “I’d like to be named Mr. Centre Ice.” Though he doesn’t know how to make that happen, he said, “I’ll just declare it for myself.”
With such a wonderful life lived, Culver is realistic about his age and what must eventually come: “I can’t live forever; I hope one day I just don’t wake up. I figure I’ve got a year at most, any time. It may not be the nicest thing to talk about.”
He also found he had to be realistic about his birthday celebrations this year, having “never lived through anything like a pandemic.” So, on Tuesday, March 16, 2021, a drive-by celebration occurred. Approximately 15 cars drove past Culver outside of Maple Grove Place in Dunnville, where he has resided for approximately 10 years, as he sat under an outside heater and was adorned by a balloon arch.
“It was the best party that I could have had,” he said, “given the fact that there is a pandemic.”
