Joseph Edmond Price, lovingly referred to as Ted, or dad, grandpa, great grandpa and even, great great grandpa, was born on August 14, 1916 in Toronto to parents Leslie and Blanche Price. On Friday, Ted Price turned 110. “When we had the 100-year-old party, he said ’Ted, you’re going to live until 110’,” Price laughed. “At that point we thought it was pretty crazy.” He’s not the oldest person in Canada, but he’s getting close. Price was an airman in the Second World War, yet his love for flying was inspired far before the war. “Dad had a cottage, he let me go up flying when I was ten or eleven, you know the barnstormers? That was the first time I flew.” He is one of the oldest veterans, in a group of about 3,000, that are alive today - of the one million sent overseas. Holding up a photo of a few dozen pilots, Price said “That was No. 1 AOS – Air Observer School.” Price didn’t just serve; he was part of one of the most successful military training programs in history: the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. “Ten of them here, they train to go over and got themselves killed,” he said sadly. The war doesn’t define Price, instead, the love of his life and their four children, 14 grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren are his life’s joy. “One of the best things was once I got married, those years together were wonderful” “Her name was Doris Price and I changed it to Dee, so to everybody – from then on – she was known as Dee.” “It was perfect, we did everything together, lived in Florida in the wintertime, up here in the summer. We did a lot of flying together, down to Barbados, it was wonderful.” And now more than a century later, the love for family and flying, are still what resonates. “I don’t feel that perky all the time, the kids always take me out in the afternoon for a trip to the airport and that’s about the happiest (I get),” he laughed. For his 100th birthday, he took a final flight. “I still love it, but I can’t get in an aircraft now,” he said.
