DownloadFeb. 8 issue
World's oldest Mennonite?
Elizabeth Buhler of Manitoba, who’s turning 111, has lived in three centuries
By Kevin Rollason Winnipeg Free PressPage:
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WINKLER, Man. — When Elizabeth Buhler was born, Queen Victoria ruled England, the Czar led Russia, the Boer War broke out and Manitoba was 29 years old.
Elizabeth Buhler with daughters, from left, Justina Suderman, Mary Dyck and Lena Pranke. — Photo by Ken Gigliotti/Winnipeg Free Press
Buhler — the oldest Canadian still living in Canada — is celebrating her 111th birthday Feb. 8.
She might also be the oldest living Mennonite. She’s a member of Bethel Bergthaler Mennonite Church south of Winkler.
Buhler is in select company as a supercentenarian — someone who has reached the age of 110.
According to Wikipedia, only one Canadian, Mary Josephine Ray, is older, having been born on May 17, 1895, in Prince Edward Island. But Ray now lives in New Hampshire and is seen on some lists as the oldest living American — and oldest person in North America.
Buhler’s age cannot be verified because her family says all birth records were destroyed during the years Josef Stalin was leader of the Soviet Union. But the family says Buhler always said she was born in Ukraine on Feb. 8, 1899.
She was just weeks shy of giving birth to her first child, Isaac, when she and her husband, whom she married on Sept. 7, 1924, in Russia, her parents and several other family members, uprooted and left for a new life in Canada in 1925.
Buhler’s secret to longevity?
“Exercise,” said her 80-year-old daughter, Lena Pranke, noting her mother had several plaques recognizing she’d been the oldest participant in a fundraiser involving a 10-kilometer walk.
“And good solid food,” her 76-year-old daughter, Mary Dyck, said. “Her faith in God has been there all along.”
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