100 years takes the cake
Edna Metzger celebrates 100th birthday with family, friends
Over a lifetime, Edna Metzger has helped with scores of southern Alberta harvests — and cooked countless chocolate cakes.
Tuesday, it was her turn to enjoy some cake as she celebrated her 100th birthday. Family members, friends and residents gathered to mark the occasion in her northside seniors’ lodge.
“She loved travelling, too,” her daughter Carol Anderson pointed out. She and her son Roger — still farming east of Stirling — were part of the crowd sharing memories and music.
Edna, still blessed with a good memory, recalls a trip with her late husband Glen to Australia. It was the animals that fascinated her, she says.
They also enjoyed trips as far away as Hawaii, Fiji and New Zealand.
Born in Lethbridge on Aug. 8, 1917, Edna grew up on the family farm in the WarnerWrentham area. She married local farmer Glen in April 1942 and raised three children: Gregg, Carol and Roger.
“We farmed animals and grain,” she says.
Edna and Glen lived on the homestead opened by Glen’s father about 1900. Roger, who continues farming in the area, remembers they were members of the United Church choir at New Dayton, where his father sang in the choir.
The couple moved to Lethbridge in 1973, although Carol says her father took part in farming operations for many years more.
Over the years, they add, Edna was active in Eastern Star and Daughters of the Nile groups, while their father was strongly involved in the Masonic lodge and the Desert Corps. Pep Band with the local Shriners.
Though retired, Carol says, her mother has been “an excellent house painter,” redecorating the interior every two years. She also enjoyed five-pin bowling.
“And she loves to cook,” keeping busy in the farm kitchen or here in the city when she moved to the lodge less than two years ago.
“My favourite is chocolate cake,” a treat she’s enjoyed with children, grandchildren and friends over the decades.
Her grandson, Blaine Metzger, says the family is proud of the contributions his grandparents made as successful producers for so many years.
The family farm is now more than 100 years old, he says.
“It’s now in its fifth generation.”
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