Ontario Archives

LongeviQuest is pleased to report that the European Supercentenarian Organisation (ESO) has validated the age of Dorothy Gardner at 110. She was born in Bristol, England, United Kingdom on 29 January 1911. Gardner was the third-oldest resident of the province of Ontario. She was a sister to 2 sisters, a wife, and a mother to 2 daughters.

Gardner and her husband in 1937 (Source: Simcoe)

Gardner worked at a vegetable processing plant in Brantford, Ontario for twenty years before she and her husband moved to Brampton, Ontario in the 1970s. She never learned to drive, preferring to walk instead. Gardner was a passionate Toronto Blue Jays fan since the team’s founding, and she would travel to Toronto every year to see them play. On her 100th and 105th birthdays, her barber of over 30 years gave her a free haircut. Even as a centenarian, she continued to do her own housework independently at her senior living facility in Brampton.

Gardner lived independently until 2019, when she moved to Barrie, Ontario. She died on 21 December 2021 at the age of 110 years, 326 days, and was survived by her two daughters, seven grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.

LongeviQuest congratulates Dorothy Gardner’s family on her posthumous recognition.

For more information, please view Gardner’s Directory Profile here.

LongeviQuest is delighted to announce the age validation of Helen Doan of Canada at age 112. She was born in Coleman, Ontario, Canada on 18 September 1911. At the moment, she is believed to be the second-oldest living person in Canada.

In 1935, she got married to her husband with whom she had two children. She worked as a bookkeeper and an office manager until her retirement in 1976.

On her 112th birthday in 2023.
(Source: CP24.com)

At the age of 112, she had five grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren.

For more information, please view Doan’s Directory Profile here.

LongeviQuest is pleased to announce the age validation of Marguerite Wabano at 111 years old. She was a Canadian supercentenarian known as the oldest living person in the country at the time of her death.

Marguerite Wabano was bon on 28 January 1904. It was reported that she was born “out in the bush” along Ekwan River just north of the present-day Attawapiskat First Nation in Kenora District, Ontario, Canada.

She attended St. Anne’s Indian Residential School when she was around seven years old before. Just after two years of being at school, her family relocated deeper into the wilderness to protect her and her siblings from the authorities and the school.

As a young woman, she married Raphael “Napihen” Wabano along the Kattawapiskak River and eventually had seven children together. The family moved to Moosonee so her husband could search for employment. Around 1995, her husband passed away.

At the age of 110.
(Source: Paul Lantz)

When Mrs. Wabano was 99 years old, she got a pacemaker implanted in her. However, the doctors detected that it had stopped working and they were not sure for how long it had been inactive.

When she was 110 years old, she was living alone while occasionally receiving some help from her children or grandchildren. At this point, she could still walk while being aided by a walker.

Mrs. Wabano passed away on 13 November 2015 in Moosonee, Ontario, Canada. At the time of her death, she was 111 years old making her the oldest living person in the county at that time.

For more information, please view Marguerite Wabano’s Directory Profile here.

LongeviQuest is pleased to announce the age validation of Mary Moles of Canada at age 110. She was born in Batteaux, Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada on 15 July 1907. She was a sister to 5 siblings, a wife, and a mother to 2 children.

On her 109th birthday in 2016.
(Source: Simcoe.com)

Mary obtained her teaching degree in 1927 and started her teaching career at a one-room schoolhouse in Tiverton, where she taught grades 1 to 8. However, she had to return to Clearview to help her parents during the Great Depression. She moved to other schools during this time. In 1941, she retired to raise her 2 daughters. But in 1952, she resumed her teaching profession, spending another 16 years teaching at two different schools before retiring in 1968 at the age of 61. She lived on her own until 1987 when she moved in with her daughter and son-in-law.

Moles passed away in Batteaux, Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada, on 7 March 2018, at the age of 110 years, 235 days. She was survived by her two daughters, four grandchildren, and two great-grandsons.

LongeviQuest congratulates Mary Moles’s family on her posthumous recognition.

For more information, please view Moles’s Directory Profile here.

LongeviQuest is pleased to announce the age validation of Jessie Massing of the United States at age 110. She was born in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada on 3 October 1910. She had 3 brothers. Massing was also a wife and a mother to 2 sons.

In 1946.
(Source: WIVB)

At the age of 107, Massing moved into an assisted living facility. She celebrated her 110th birthday at Tennyson Court Assisted Living and Memory Care in Williamsville. Although she had difficulty hearing, her sense of humor was still strong.

Massing passed away in Amherst, Erie County, New York, USA, on 24 July 2021, at the age of 110 years, 294 days. She was survived by her son Clifford, 3 grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, and five great-great-grandchildren.

LongeviQuest congratulates Mrs. Jessie Massing’s family on her posthumous recognition.

For more information, please view Massing’s Directory Profile here.

LongeviQuest is pleased to announce the age validation of Ethel May Pease of Canada at age 110. She was born in Constable Burton, North Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom on 9 May 1888. She was the seventh of twelve children.

Pease grew up in a small village and attended the local school. After finishing school at 14, she began learning how to sew, with the goal of becoming a seamstress. When World War I broke out, she trained to become a nurse and served in a military hospital in Manchester. After the war, she returned home and taught elementary school children. Pease got married in 1920 and the couple had 2 children. Her family moved around England before settling near Leeds, where her husband worked as the manager of a meat products factory. After her husband passed away in 1964, she moved to Canada to live with her daughter.

(Source: The Ottawa Citizen, 22 Jan 1999)

Pease was diagnosed with a heart condition at the age of 63 and was advised to avoid excitement. However, she remained active and healthy throughout her life. In her 80s, she started drinking a teaspoon of whiskey in her warm milk at bedtime. Pease never went to the hospital and traveled to England every year until she was 93. At the age of 103, she moved into a nursing home and started using a walker. Pease remained lucid until a few weeks before her death.

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

LongeviQuest congratulates Ethel May Pease’s family on her posthumous recognition.

For more information, please view Pease’s Directory Profile here.