On March 10, Freda England turned 106 years old and more than 100 family and friends came out to celebrate with the Gibsons woman, believed to be the oldest person on the Sunshine Coast.
She’s lived through the Great Depression, two World Wars and over a century of technological advances.
“I remember in school we used slates and chalk,” England told Coast Reporter, noting now children have computers to work on.
“And we used to do our laundry with a bucket and a scrub board. We didn’t even have a ringer, and now you just put the laundry in and push a button.”
England came to the Coast 11 years ago to live at Christenson Village and be closer to her niece Sandy Hendricks, who’s been caring for her for the past 28 years.
“I just can’t say enough good things about Sandy. Everyone should be as fortunate to have someone be so loving and caring as Sandy has been to me,” England said.
At 106, England is still relatively healthy and has her wits about her. She credits her health and longevity to clean living and following her heart. “I just did a lot of walking, I kept myself happy. I didn’t do any drinking or anything. I used to go to dances, of course, but I never went out like most of the young people did,” England said.
“I was true to myself. I knew what I wanted to do, and I went ahead and did it.”
Born in England in 1911, she came to Canada with her family at the age of nine because her dad believed he could find work here after serving in the First World War.
“My dad was coming out of the army and he thought that he would get a farm in Canada,” England said.
“That didn’t turn out.”
England, her four siblings, her mother and father settled in Winnipeg because they didn’t have any money to make a new start somewhere else. “Dad just took whatever work he could get,” England said.
Her mother and father always provided for the large family, even making a point to spoil the kids on Sundays.
“We never had a weekly allowance like they have now, but what we did have was my mother and dad went out every Saturday night and while they were out they bought candies for us,” England said.
“They’d come home and put them in little bags and put them under our pillow. So every Sunday morning we had a bag of candies under our pillow. That was a thing they took on themselves.”
England remembers living through the Depression as a young, fashion-conscious woman who couldn’t dress the way she wanted.
“I know it was a depression for me because I always used to like to dress just so, and I never had any stockings and I felt terrible about that. But nobody had stockings. You couldn’t buy them,” she said, adding they didn’t have much food at that time either.
By the late 1930s England met her first husband, who left soon after they were married to serve six years in the Second World War.
She said the time fighting changed him and he wasn’t able to be faithful when he returned. “He’d been too free overseas and he couldn’t keep true to me,” she said.
Ultimately the marriage fell apart, but England would find love again with her second husband, Charlie.
Together England and her new husband moved to Vancouver where they lived a happy life together until Charlie ultimately succumbed to Alzheimer’s.
She stayed in their Vancouver home until the age of 95 when she fell and needed more care, which is when she decided to move to Christenson Village in Gibsons.
Over the years England has given much of her time as a volunteer, using her sewing skills to fetch top dollar at auctions and being actively involved with the Army, Navy and Air Force Veterans of Canada.
She also started a flea market in Winnipeg that’s still going strong with over 100 tables each week.
She’s proud of her accomplishments and feels like she’s lived a life well spent.
Her only regret is not having children. Although she tried, it wasn’t possible. “But Sandy is just like a daughter to me. Even better,” she said.
England is the last surviving member of her immediate family.
