麻豆视频

Former Carlyle resident Eva Eckert hit the century mark on July16 and as anyone would never 鈥渟uspect,鈥� she was treated to a surprise birthday celebration.

Eckert was born on a farm during a cyclone in the Green Hill district, 32 kilometres south of Carlyle, to parents Frank and Violet George. Eckert was the middle child and the only one with red hair. She claims that the cyclone was responsible for her hair colour and freckles.

She attended the Green Hill School from Grade 1-8, and also took Grades 10 and 11 by correspondence, remembering having to ride the horse and buggy to school in winter, spring, summer and fall. She enjoyed playing ball, attending community field meets that were a popular event in that era and also she loved to ride horseback.

Eckert enjoyed the farm and grew up helping her father with anything that needed to be done. She feels she was the 鈥渞ight hand man,鈥� milking cows, and feeding the livestock, which included horses, chickens, swine, turkeys and geese. She remembers gardening too, but it was difficult to grow anything due to the dry years in the 1930s, and having to shoot rabbits that wandered too close to the foliage, being a threat to the potatoes that were about the only thing that grew in those times.

Eckert began working at the Co-op in Carlyle in 1944 and married her husband Arthur when he returned after the war in 1946. Her husband was the proprietor of B/A Bulk Fuels in Carlyle, which eventually became Gulf Oil. She and her husband raised two children, Murray and Myrna, and like many families in the area took up residence at what was known at the time as Carlyle lake, first having a cabin on Seventh Street and then spending summers聽 at the cabin they acquired located on 12th Street. The Eckerts sold the family cabin in 1974, a couple years after moving to Regina.

Eckert and her husband moved to Kinookimaw in 1991 for the fresh air and the peace and quiet of the resort community, located on Last Mountain Lake northwest of Regina and now enjoys the comfort of her son living with her at this time.

Eckert soon became involved in the community and started golfing at the nearby nine-hole Regina Beach Golf Course at the age of 72. She also had a group of friends with whom she spent many a time playing cards. She still plays cards to this day; cribbage is her favourite card game having had a 29 hand in her past and scoring 24 just the other day.

With her 100th birthday coming up she was unaware of any big celebration planned and unsuspectingly went for a drive with her son the morning of her birthday, enjoying the local scenery and pulling into the golf course where she had played before, until she hung up the clubs in 2015 at the age of 95.

Enjoying the 鈥済rand old game鈥� immensely and being one to practise the best etiquette of the game, she became concerned when her son drove up to a large crowd at the course, admonishing him: 鈥淚 saw all the women standing around, worrying that I would interrupt a golf game.鈥� She was encouraged to exit the car not knowing that everyone was there for a 鈥済olf game鈥� and she would be teeing it up once again. Her son had worked in Regina and at one time worked with a local radio station, and still has many friends and acquaintances in the industry. They gathered to report on the upcoming match.

She was greeted with the cameras flashing and microphones in her face, a heartfelt singing of Happy Birthday by all her family, friends, acquaintances and a couple well known sport figures that were in attendance: former Chicago Blackhawks hockey coach Lorne Molleken and former Saskatchewan Roughrider Roger Aldag, an inductee into the CFL Hall of Fame, who quite likely could have heard Eckert cheering from her living room on game days.

The set-up was complete when Eckert was summoned to the No. 7 tee [to give the press corps the best vantage point to see her tee it up] she played in; with her son Murray, nephew Melvin George and his wife Marilyn. As Ekert exploded her first drive from the tee off box in five years she was immortalized with a daytime fireworks display which she was not startled by, but it did come as a bit of a shock to the other members of her 9:26 a.m. foursome.

Eckert also mentioned her love of sports, participating in curling at the local rink and enjoying dancing while raising her family in her days living in Carlyle.

When asked what she has planned for the next hundred years she said 鈥渆ating, sleeping, and drinking, enjoying life in general, that is my plan.鈥�

She maintains the secrets to reaching 100 was growing up on a farm, living in a small town, eating home-grown vegetables and locally produced meats, and doing things in moderation.

鈥淚 worked hard all my life and it didn鈥檛 hurt me a bit鈥�