Dynamic duo
Centenarian sisters keep active in their Pictou County home
A daily routine that includes chores, watching The Price is Right, and walking has served sisters well in reaching special age milestones.
Come Friday, Helen Ward won’t be the only centenarian in her family.
On St. Patrick’s Day, her “kid” sister Gertie MacDonald turns 100 – joining the nearly 102-year-old Ward in the century club.
“I’m just happy to be alive and able to enjoy life,” MacDonald said about the milestone.
The ladies don’t believe they’re all that unusual, saying people live longer these days due to advances in medicine. When asked to share their secret for long life, Ward said she doesn’t have one.
“We have no idea, we wonder ourselves. Nobody in our family ever lived to 90. I can’t understand why we’re still here.”
But MacDonald believes it’s a combination of things, including being brought up on a farm with fresh, clean air.
“Modern medicine – I would never be here if we didn’t have that. And outlook. We don’t believe in sitting around. We like to keep busy. We’re never bored.”
The sisters start each day at their Sutherlands River home with breakfast, followed by reading the newspaper, and completing the Word Target, Crossword and Sudoku puzzles.
Their daily routine also includes doing a few chores, watching the Price Is Right, cooking and cleaning up afterward, and their exercise regime of walking indoors.
“I do 20 rounds around the house. It’s how I get exercise. I don’t go outside in the winter for the fear that I might fall,” said Ward.
She also finds time to knit and work on a jigsaw puzzle, while MacDonald, who prepares the meals, also likes to bake. They finish off their day with watching a bit of TV and then reading before they go to sleep.
Ward came to live with her sister when MacDonald had an operation about 10 years ago.
Ward has a son and daughter, five grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. MacDonald had two sons. She now has five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
The sisters have seen many changes in their lives.
“Things have changed a lot from when we were young. We
were born on a farm that didn’t have running water or electricity,” said Ward, noting that they grew all their own vegetables and raised cows, sheep and pigs for meat.”
First living on McLellans Mountain, their family later moved to Greenwood where they had electricity, a washing machine and a telephone for the first time.
“Now people all have computers and do texting, Twitter and all this. I don’t do any of that,” Ward said, adding that she plays games on the computer, while her sister sends letters and pays bills with it. “They are amazing things.”