WEYBURN - Weyburn resident Susan Mailhiot will be sharing a lot of stories and memories as she marks her 100th year with a party on Sunday, Nov. 10 at the Wheatland Seniors Centre.
Her actual birth date is Nov. 13, but friends and family can see and congratulate “Glamma” on Sunday between 1-3 p.m.
Asked if she was looking forward to reaching the century mark, she laughed and said, “It’s just another day. I never realized I would live that long.”
In an interview at Eden Homes, where she has resided for the past few years, she reminisced over some of her favourite memories, including climbing the Rock of Gibraltar as part of a memorable trip to Europe she took after winning some lottery money, and riding in the Weyburn summer parade.
Susan recalled winning a $10,000 jackpot after buying some Nevada tickets at Buzz Bent’s Smoke Shop in the 1960s, and took a trip that included a visit to family in Germany, along with Spain, Portugal and Austria.
She watched bullfighting in Spain, and took a side-trip to climb the Rock of Gibraltar as part of this memorable journey to Europe.
Susan went with her second husband, Lucien Mailhiot, with whom she did other travelling, including to a number of the islands in the Caribbean.
Growing up on a farm at Bruno, Sask., she recalled having to milk 10 of their cows before going to school, while her mother milked the other 10. She attended school at Pleasant Grove School, which was a one-room school, and then took her high school at a girls convent school.
Once Susan graduated, she went to Winnipeg to take training as a registered nurse, and hearing of an opening at the Weyburn Mental Hospital, she transferred here.
She worked there for two years until she married her first husband, Bob Abel, who also worked at the Mental Hospital.
He had served in the Navy during the war, and worked at the hospital upon his return to civilian life.
One of the stories he told from his war years was, while stationed at Esquimalt on the West Coast, they were told of the presence of a Japanese submarine spying on their operations.
After they were married, they lived at 22 Prairie Avenue in Weyburn, a short walk from the Colosseum. They used to billet players from the Weyburn Red Wings, and one day they came home to find smoke filling the house from the furnace in the basement. At the time, she was billeting Mike Sauter and the Bennett brothers.
“Everything was smoke-damaged, and I had to replace all those kids clothes. Even though we had insurance, some things I only got 10 cents for. We spent over $600 trying to get the smoke smell out of the sheets and towels and stuff,” said Susan.
She said the boys would walk over for hockey practice, and would often come back by their house, and if she had pies in the cupboard or on the counter, they were gone once the boys came through.
Her son, Doug Abel, played for the Red Wings, and went on to play for the Dixie Flyers in Tennessee.
One story her family likes to hear was about a Weyburn-Estevan hockey game. “Our seats were just in front of the Estevan Bruins bench. I was so excited with my program that I hit the coach, Ernie McLean, on the shoulder. Next thing I knew, two policemen came and they were going to escort me out because I had tapped Ernie McLean. It was all over Weyburn,” she said, adding when she got home, her mother-in-law asked her about the incident as she was listening to the game on the radio.
“She said, ‘imagine, there was a woman they were going to kick out of the hockey game’,” said Susan, noting her mother-in-law was quite shocked to find it had been her.
After her first husband passed away, she met and married Mailhiot, who was from Alida. He also served in the Second World War with the army.
Susan was asked to represent the War Mothers for the Weyburn Legion one year, because both of her husbands served in wartime.
Getting to ride in the Weyburn parade was a definite highlight for her, as she rode in the back of a convertible with her grandson Cory, and his stepdaughter, and an escort of four motorcycles, two in front and two in the back.
She laughed as she noted she was told to “wave like the queen” to the crowd lining the streets.
“The parade was so long!” she said. “I think that was the biggest parade they’ve ever had.”
Asked if she had any secrets to her long life, she said she watches what she eats, and she stayed active for a long time with a love of dancing with Lucien.
“We enjoyed dancing. It was good exercise, and we met people from all over,” said Susan, noting they used to go the Legion dances, as well as at White Bear. One winter they went to Phoenix and Apache Junction, and were able to do a lot of dancing there.
“It’s been a good life, lots of ups and downs,” said Susan.
