Ethel May Pease

BIOGRAPHY

Pease was born in Constable Burton, North Yorkshire, England, UK, on 9 May 1888, as the seventh of twelve children. She went to the village school. After finishing school at 14, she began learning how to sew, with the goal of becoming a seamstress. When the First World War broke out, she trained to become a nurse and served in a Manchester military hospital. One of her brothers died in the war. After the war ended, she returned home and taught elementary school children, resigning when she got married.

In 1920, she married Albert Victor Pease. The family moved around England, eventually settling near Leeds, where her husband worked as the manager of a meat products factory. The couple had two children: Victor “Al” Pease (1921–2014) and Margaret King. Her son was a motor racing driver. After her husband passed away in 1964, she moved to Canada to live with her daughter.

At the age of 63, the doctor told her she had a bad heart and warned her to avoid “too much excitement.” In her 80s, she developed a habit of adding a teaspoon of whiskey to a warm cup of bedtime milk. According to her daughter, she was never hospitalized a day in her life. Until the age of 93, she would travel to England every year. She entered a nursing home at the age of 103, and began using a walker at the same time. She was reported to have been lucid until a few weeks before her passing.

Pease passed away in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, on 19 January 1999, at the age of 110 years, 255 days.

RECOGNITION

At the time of death, she was the third-oldest living person in Canada, behind Maria Mallozzi (born 25 September 1887) and Zelda McCague (born 28 March 1888).

Her age was verified by Andrew Holmes, and validated by the ESO on 2 August 2023.

ATTRIBUTION

* “Centenarian saw world ‘happen before her eyes’” – The Ottawa Citizen, 22 January 1999

GALLERY

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