Zelda McCague

Zelda McCague (March 31, 1888 – August 6, 2001) was recognized as the oldest living Canadaian and one of the oldest people in the world whose age has been verified.

The long-time resident of Beeton, 40 kilometres north of Toronto, once attributed her longevity to eating small meals and abstaining from alcohol and cigarettes.

Her grandson, Paul McCague, a Toronto lawyer, said it had a lot to do with leading a good life and good genes. "Grandma just lived a very clean, God-fearing life ... [S] he worked hard when she was young. She hardly ever went to the doctor, she was never on any medication."

Zelda Viola Strongman was born one of six children born in a log cabin on the family farm, near Alliston, Ontario. She was entitled to draw a pension in 1958, at the then-pensionable age of 70.

In 1907, she married local farmer William McCague. Together, they farmed for many years. William McCague died in 1940 at the age of 61. His wife, who was 52 at the time, never remarried.

"She had a hard time during the Depression as all farmers did ... [Y] ou can't say that she didn't have stress in her life because she certainly did", added her grandson. "She lived through a lot. She remembered the first car. When she got her first car, they bought it out of a Sears catalogue. She lived through the First World War and was afraid of losing her husband."

Although McCague was believed to be one of the oldest women alive, she was not in the Guinness Book of Records because she had no birth certificate. However her age has been conclusively proved by other documents. As McCague turned 113, however, the official record holder - according to Guinness - was Marie Brémont of France, who celebrated her 115th birthday in April.

McCague outlived two of her four children, dying in her sleep of natural causes on August 6 2001, aged 113 years 131 days.

Quotes

*"Can you imagine being 92 and visiting your mother? [Aunt] Freda and Dad used to do that." (Paul McCague, grandson)

*"We were on the farm and Grandma would sit on the rocking chair in the corner, and I would sit in the dining room table, doing my [law school] studies ... she'd get the paper to read it, but she was so kind and so considerate that she would be so quiet. When she'd open the paper, she would open it so slowly so the pages would not crumble - that's what she was like." (Paul McCague)

*"She never had a cross word to say about anyone. My grandma always felt that if you couldn't say something good about somebody, then don't say anything about them at all. She lived by that." (Paul McCague)

Links

*http://www.thestar.com/Obituary/HtoM/article/108440
*http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb3543/is_200109/ai_n8359268