An Edmonton woman has a lot to celebrate.
Isabel McRae turned 107 years old on Wednesday, and friends treated her to a birthday party at her home in central Edmonton.
McRae wore a purple boa and silver crown adorned with pink and blue jewels to honour the occasion, which was a complete surprise to her.
“I didn’t expect a party,” she said. “Not for me.”
For the last 17 years McRae has lived at the Rosedale Manor assisted-living residence, and doesn’t show signs of her mind slowing down.
On Tuesday she voted in Alberta’s provincial election, saying it’s her duty to follow politics. McRae scrunched up her chin and raised her eyebrows when she found out NDP won, but said she thought it would be all right.
The election saw the fourth change in government for the province, all of which McRae has lived through. She was around during the time of Alberta’s first premier, the Honourable Alexander C. Rutherford whose term was from 1905-1910. When McRae was born, Alberta was only three years old.
Born in 1908, McRae has lived in Edmonton her entire life. The day before she was born, Alberta held its first music festival in Edmonton, which could explain her love of singing.
She went to the University of Alberta, and is able to boast that she’s the oldest living alumni of the university, said her cousin, Donald Reynolds .
She went on to become a teacher for 40 years, and because she never married, her students became her children.
“There might have been someone,” Reynolds said. “but the war intervened and she never saw him again.”
The secret to a life that has seen two world wars, the fall of the Soviet Union and Justin Bieber, is plenty of exercise and healthy eating, McRae said.
“Do the best you can,” she said. “That's what my mother used to say. ‘Do the best you can.’”
With files from CTV Edmonton.
