Mary Grayston celebrates her 103rd birthday with friends and family, including her son Jack Minshull and her daughter Claudia Morrison. Yes, Mary is still spry after all these years.
Lyonel Doherty photo
Mary Grayston doesn’t have any secrets of longevity at age 103.
“I guess I’m just pig-headed,” she laughed during her birthday celebration at McKinney Place recently.
Family and friends showed up to wish her all the best. She even had her cake and ate it, too.
“I feel no different than 102, outside of the odd ache and pain. I’m just one of those stubborn people . . . my knee gives up on me once in a while.”
Mary was born in August of 1910. She referred to Beausejour, Manitoba as the most beautiful town in the world.
“It broke my heart when I left.”
She moved to Richmond, BC, which was “nothing more than a mud hole” at the time.
Mary will always remember what her teacher told her one day: that her parents should send her to art school, the only subject that ever interested her.
Throughout the years she worked at odd jobs picking berries, and once worked at a fish cannery for 25 cents an hour.
Mary recalled the most amazing thing that ever happened to her – the birth of her first son.
She was married twice and had four children.
Recalling her own childhood, Mary (one of nine children), was taught to do everything in moderation. Her parents also instilled in her that stealing was a major crime.
“We were taught that anything you saw that wasn’t yours, you leave it.”
If Mary’s sister Ann were alive today (she died four years ago), she would have been 108.
The family definitely has long lasting genes.
