Happy 107th birthday, Eva Robicheau
Eva Robicheau didn’t hesitate a heartbeat when asked on her 107th birthday what her happiest memory is.
“The day I had my first baby, a boy,” she said.
The “baby,” Richard Robicheau, now 84, sat beside her during her birthday party Feb. 12 at The Meadows Home for Special Care, where Eva resides.
The mood was merry – a band played, there were birthday greetings from legislative members, a dance organized by her granddaughter Cindy Robicheau and Cinergy dancers, and lots of wellwishers.
Daughter- in- law Agnes Robicheau says they took Eva to Saint Ambrose Cathedral the Saturday night before.
“She hadn’t been there for a long time and we wheeled her in and she went right in the front pew,” she said.
Afterwards a gathering was held for her downstairs and the congregation was welcome to attend.
“She was quite happy,” said Agnes.
Eva Robicheau was born in 1911 (on Feb. 12 of that year) and raised three children: sons Richard Robicheau and George Robicheau and daughter Katherine Wight.
Prior to moving to The Meadows three years ago, she had been living in an apartment at Trinity Place in Yarmouth. Her husband, Frank, died in 1998.
A picture of Eva at the age of 16 was passed around and admired during her birthday celebration.
When Eva was young…
• Shortly after Eva turned one, the Titanic sank off the coast of Newfoundland (April 12, 1912)
• When she was three, Britain declared war on Germany on Aug. 4, 1914. The first Canadian troops left for England on Oct. 3.
• When she was five, in 1916, Manitoba became the first province in Canada to grant women the right to vote.