BIOGRAPHY

Pattison was born as Carrie Elizabeth Gordon in Dundas, Ontario, Canada on 30 January 1900. There was a history of longevity in her family, with her mother and father living to be 94 and 96 respectively. Her first husband courted her via horse and buggy.

Pattison and her first husband had four daughters: Edith, twins Eileen and Irene, and Violet. After being widowed young, she worked on the family farm during the Great Depression. After World War II, she found employment as a factory worker in St. Catharines, where she had been living since the early 1930s. She would work there for two decades.

In the 1940s, Pattison married her second husband, Elmo Pattison. She was widowed again, and also outlived all four of her daughters, sons-in-law, and siblings.

As a supercentenarian, Pattison had 18 grandchildren, 10 great-grandchildren, and six great-great-grandchildren. Her eldest grandson, Richard Anderson, was 71 years old at the time of his grandmother’s 110th birthday. She never smoked nor drank alcohol.

Pattison died at a nursing home in St Catharines, Ontario on 3 February 2011 at the age of 111 years, 4 days.

RECOGNITION

Following the death of Italian-born Pasqualina Franco on 16 August 2009, Pattison, then aged 109, became Ontario’s oldest known resident. Upon her own death, the title passed to Scotland native Isabella Hayes.

Pattison’s age was verified by Stefan Maglov and Dr. Andrew Holmes, and was validated by LongeviQuest on 6 June 2024.

ATTRIBUTION

• From Wright Bros. to space age Niagara This Week, 9 September 2010

• Carrie Elizabeth Pattison Dignity Memorial

GALLERY