Edrie Beeler of Wilmot turned 109 years old on February 15 – and they held a party at Tibbetts Home For Special Care.
Edrie was born on February 15, 1904 in the community of Victory in Annapolis County. One-hundred-and nine years later, to the day, she received well wishes from the friends, neighbours, and family from Nova Scotia, and Ontario.
She may be the oldest resident of the province but the government does not track those records. Attempts where made to determine that status but family said they were not able to confirm this.
“But we do know that she is one of the oldest and in pretty good health,” said a family member.
Local MLAs and church members attended Friday’s party and helped celebrate the special time.
In addition, numerous pink flamingos arrived and stayed for the duration of the day. Pictures were taken at the party and everyone enjoyed cake and drinks plus five generations of the family were in attendance.
Throughout the day, Edrie received numerous phone calls which were all handled by daughter, Jean Moore. Also, CTV’s, Live At “5” showed a picture on its newscast and numerous local newspapers had articles in them.
At the age of 18, Edrie left her native province to travel to Boston, Massachusetts, USA to train as a nurse and in 1925 she graduated as a registered nurse being the valedictorian of her class. She spent the next three years doing private nursing duties in the Boston area.
In 1928, Edrie returned to Nova Scotia and was soon married to her childhood love, Murray C. Beeler. In 1930 her husband and his brother Ken bought a hardware store in Annapolis Royal and ran it under the name of “Beeler Bros.”
Edrie is devoted to her family and raised two children, Jean and George. She was very active in the Annapolis Royal community life. In the late 1930s she was very involved in having Annapolis Royal General Hospital conceived and built. Over the next 40 years, Edrie was president of the Hospital Aid Society. After the death of her husband Murray in 1967, she continued to run Beeler Bros Hardware store until it was sold in 1968.
In 1985 she sold her home in Annapolis Royal and moved to the local senior citizens home were she happily resided until 2000. Edrie then moved to the Tibbetts Home for Special Care in Wilmot.
She has always lived a very active life both physically and mentally. At the ripe age of 109, she still enjoys playing a game of Scrabble and reads the newspaper as well.
Edrie is much loved by her son and daughter, as well as her five grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren and five great-great-grandchildren, and all those who know her over the many years of her life.
