102nd birthday marked by salutes
Second World War vet honoured by family, regiment association
Jack Morris didn’t hear much of what went on outside his window Thursday, but he saw it all — his family, fellow war veterans, even the Lincoln and Welland Regiment Association band were there.
All to wish him a happy 102nd birthday.
Morris was born in 1918, during the Spanish flu outbreak — the world’s last great pandemic — and marked this birthday coronavirus-style in his room at Niagara Gardens nursing home in St. Catharines.
What started as a small celebration grew.
Staff had his window painted festively, there were balloons outside, and by noon 25 people were there.
Inside, Morris sat at the window with a staff member by his side.
On the grass outside, family and friends took turns coming close to pass on greetings; some of the legion members stepped up to salute him.
“He’s 102 and a veteran. He’s not a member of our branch but it doesn’t matter, he’s still a veteran,” said Lloyd Cull, zone commander for the Niagara region.
“So I called up a few of the executive to come out to see him to show we’re here for veterans, whatever they need.”
He said there were 15 band members who wanted to come out, but it had to be limited to five.
Morris’s daughter, Karen Morris-McDougall, said her family appreciated the turnout.
“We all feel he’s quite the individual,” she said.
Her sister, Jackie Cavanagh, said, “Karen just asked for a trumpet, and they all showed up.”
Born in St. Catharines, Morris and his wife Isobel were raising their three children at a house on Flower Street when he left to join the Second World War effort. He was 24.
He was a motorcycle courier deployed to France. The war permanently damaged his hearing, and when he returned to his family, he went back to work at Ferranti-Packard.
He’d learned to love motorcycles, though, and kept riding until he was 80.
He drove his own car until he was 95 and lived independently in the family home — which he and his father built — until he was 97.
“He still handles all his banking,” said Cavanagh. “Physically he can’t, my brother does that, but my dad is still in charge of his own bank account.
“Every time we ask him for money he says he’s broke, so I know he’s fine,” she added with a laugh.
His son, David Morris, said restrictions on visiting due to COVID-19 have been difficult. No cases have been reported at Niagara Gardens, but like at all nursing homes, it’s been weeks since family have been allowed inside.
He said their mom died several years ago and these days Morris is lonely in his groundfloor room.
His children and grandchildren visit often at the window to see him and speak on the phone, though with his poor hearing it’s difficult.
Niagara Gardens administrator Sheila Given said “it’s definitely been trying times, for sure, we understand how hard it has been on the families.”
At 102, Morris is the oldest of about 120 residents who live there.
“We said when this is all over, we’re going to have a big party for him. We had a party here for his 100th as well,” she said.
When staff started painting his window, she said, he wondered why they were making a fuss over him. And he didn’t like being isolated from everyone.
“He actually just said in there, this is the worst birthday ever. Until he saw all this, and then he said, ‘I changed my mind.’” Gord.Howard@niagaradailies.com