By Don Urquhart, Times-Chronicle
The strength of her voice may have diminished over the years and her body less sturdy but rest assured Osoyoos centenarian Ethel Van Duzee remains sharp as a tack with a sense of humour unscathed by the ongoing turmoil of our times.
A small COVID restricted group of friends and relatives gathered at White Sands in Osoyoos on Jan. 13 to celebrate the 100th birthday of this long-time Osoyoos resident. Smartly dressed in an emerald outfit, a tiara resting on freshly coiffured hair; Ethel was in her element.
Dispensing first with the question on the tip of everyone’s tongue. . . what is her secret to a long life? “Lie a lot!” she replies with a cheeky grin. In all honesty, I can attest this was her answer. It did of course set off peels of laughter in the room and the acute observation that her sense of humour had most certainly not diminished with time.
A small group of close friends and relatives celebrated Ethel Van Duzee’s milestone 100th birthday on Jan. 13. Front row (l-r), Ethel’s daughter-in-law Pat Graf, Ethel, and Erica Nadler. Back row first left Merv Graf, fourth from left Osoyoos Mayor Sue McKortoff.
Friends speak of her avoidance of doctors and her “homemade concoctions” aimed at putting distance between her and the doctor’s office. To this day she says she takes no medicine of any kind. I observe that she doesn’t wear hearing aids or even glasses. “I have three pairs of glasses but none of them work.”
In fact, one of her only complaints it seems is eating. “About 20 years ago I lost my sense of taste so I don’t really enjoy eating,” she says.
A few possible explanations might explain her enviable health and mental prowess. As longtime friend and golf buddy Erica Nadler puts it, Ethel “never let any grass grow under her feet.” For the avid golfer, this is an apt description. When the nascent golf club was canvassing for support 50 years ago, Ethel made a donation and is one of only a handful of surviving charter members.
“Up and out of the golf cart, she’d hit the ball and hop back on the cart quicker than you could say Jack Robinson.” In fact, she developed a bit of a reputation because of the fact she would often jump in the cart and zoom off before her passenger was seated, bouncing them out of the cart more than once.
“While her swing slowed down over the years she is still one of the better putters at our ladies club,” Nadler relates. It is a sport she loves and indeed only stopped playing about three years ago after falling and breaking her hip (unrelated to golf).
But Ethel’s prowess on the links is also matched at the card table. A keen Bridge player, she continues to play regularly, with Osoyoos Mayor Sue McKortoff noting that Ethel is one of the best Bridge players she’s seen.
But a life well lived invariably involves some pain along the way. Ethel lost her first husband Fred Schaffer shortly after he returned from the war in a freak tree cutting accident. And then some years later she was to lose her only child.
“I only had one son and he died when he was 46. He had multiple myeloma and they knew it would take about five years and I think that was the worst and the best memories. But the best part was he left two children and now they both have children.”
In Osoyoos Ethel has one daughter-in-law, Pat Graf and her husband Merv. Sharing some of their memories of their years with Ethel, they comment: “She is a very strong and determined person who needs to be in control of things around her and this is one of the main strengths of her character. It is very difficult to advise her, but if one plants a seed in her mind she will come up with the idea on her own.”
Ethel was also a keen traveller and the Grafs relate a story of her trip to China when she was in her mid-70s. She and a friend toured around China (a couple of years before their trip to Cuba) and apparently on one occasion the group was not lively enough for the pair so they took it upon themselves to form a conga line and stomp noisily around the nightclub.
Ethel Van Duzee operated Ethel’s Beauty Salon for more than 20 years in Osoyoos.
And then there are more golf stories. In her later years, she was allowed to drive her golf cart close to the green, the Grafs relate. “The rule was that the cart had to fly a special little flag for recognition of this allowance. She refused to display one because someone might think that she was old!” Ethel came to Osoyoos in 1948, drawn to the area by her sister who resided in Rock Creek. She was newly widowed, just 26 years old with her seven-year-old son in tow.
Her sister had been bugging her for some years to become a hairdresser so that they could go into business together. Her sister never did, but Ethel not only became a hairdresser but started her own business opening a salon on Main Street which she operated for more than 20 years.
Remarrying Frank Van Duzee in the early 1950s the pair then built one of Osoyoos’ first lakeside campsites named Van Acres Campsite in 1961. They ran the very successful business for 10 years before handing the reins over to Ethel’s son, Gary Schaffer. In retirement, they travelled extensively to Europe, Africa, Australia, etc.
Through their travels and taking note of tourism promotion in places like Kimberley and Leavenworth, Washington, they thought that to promote tourism Osoyoos could benefit from having a theme.
With a group of interested community members, it was decided that a Spanish theme would suit the town because of the similarity to the landscape and weather of Spain. The logo ‘Don Carlos’ was used on various promotions for a number of years and although Don Carlos has moved on, the white stucco buildings with red tile roofs remain a testament to one of Osoyoos’ early and clever tourist promotions.
Over the years Ethel remained enthusiastically involved in a whole range of community projects such as the Pioneer Walkway. And along the way was recognized for her contribution, receiving Osoyoos Citizen of the Year award and Soroptimist Woman of the Year, to name only a couple.
Once the COVID restrictions relax, Nadler, who organized this intimate celebration, will put together a larger event at the golf club where the great many friends Ethel has understandably collected over the decades can celebrate on a larger scale. In the meantime, Happy Birthday, Ethel!
