Dad’s 93rd birthday
My father’s 100th birthday is being celebrated at our Thanksgiving Dinner tomorrow, though there are still 2 weeks until the official day. (Yes, I was a late in life baby). 🙂
Dad was born in Montreal in 1914. He had two older brothers, but he was the only one to survive to adulthood. He remembers the soldiers returning from World War One. He was run over by a (new!) Model T Ford when he was 3. He was an active member of Boy Scouts and saw Lord and Lady Baden-Powell when they visited North America in 1935.
He worked for Burroughs-Wellcome Pharmaceuticals in the 30s. During WW2, he tried to enlist, but they refused him, because the doctor heard a heart murmur. He built aircraft at Fairchilds in Longueuil, instead. In the 50s, he and a friend came to Vancouver and started Maco Industries, a building supply wholesaler. For the next forty years he worked for them, retiring finally around 70.
He was married twice. He had 3 adopted sons with his first wife who had tuberculosis and couldn’t have children. His second wife brought 3 children into the marriage, they had one biological child (me!).
He was an avid tennis player and table tennis player. He was playing tennis into his 70s. He was still playing table tennis when legally blind, into his 80s. He couldn’t see the ball, but he could see the shape of his opponent’s paddle, and knew where the ball would be. He walked several kilometers each day until his 90s.
Dad never passes a children’s drink stand without buying a cup.
For entertainment at his party tomorrow, I’m looking for questions for an Ask a Centenarian! event.
Here’s your chance. Leave a question in the comments, and we’ll ask him. If technology allows, we may even film him responding to your questions. If there are quite a few, I’ll keep asking over the next few weeks during the season of his birthday festivities.
So– what would you like to ask?
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Shawn L. Bird 
Centenarian! October 11, 2014
Tags: 100, biography, birthday, centenarian, Herb Duguay, hundred, questions
Dad’s 93rd birthday
My father’s 100th birthday is being celebrated at our Thanksgiving Dinner tomorrow, though there are still 2 weeks until the official day. (Yes, I was a late in life baby). 🙂
Dad was born in Montreal in 1914. He had two older brothers, but he was the only one to survive to adulthood. He remembers the soldiers returning from World War One. He was run over by a (new!) Model T Ford when he was 3. He was an active member of Boy Scouts and saw Lord and Lady Baden-Powell when they visited North America in 1935.
He worked for Burroughs-Wellcome Pharmaceuticals in the 30s. During WW2, he tried to enlist, but they refused him, because the doctor heard a heart murmur. He built aircraft at Fairchilds in Longueuil, instead. In the 50s, he and a friend came to Vancouver and started Maco Industries, a building supply wholesaler. For the next forty years he worked for them, retiring finally around 70.
He was married twice. He had 3 adopted sons with his first wife who had tuberculosis and couldn’t have children. His second wife brought 3 children into the marriage, they had one biological child (me!).
He was an avid tennis player and table tennis player. He was playing tennis into his 70s. He was still playing table tennis when legally blind, into his 80s. He couldn’t see the ball, but he could see the shape of his opponent’s paddle, and knew where the ball would be. He walked several kilometers each day until his 90s.
Dad never passes a children’s drink stand without buying a cup.
For entertainment at his party tomorrow, I’m looking for questions for an Ask a Centenarian! event.
Here’s your chance. Leave a question in the comments, and we’ll ask him. If technology allows, we may even film him responding to your questions. If there are quite a few, I’ll keep asking over the next few weeks during the season of his birthday festivities.
So– what would you like to ask?
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