VICTORIA – At least once or twice a week Margaret visits Mary to "spend time together," Margaret says. "[I] take her out."
They first met 37 years ago. It was Margaret's first day at the hair salon. Mary was her first client.
"Mary put me at ease," Margaret recalls with a smile. "She has a beautiful warmth about her."
The women bonded, maintained a close connection over the decades, and now Mary is Margaret's oldest friend – literally.
"I'm as surprised as anybody else," Mary smiles. You see, Mary is 104 years old. "I don't know anybody that's that old," Mary laughs. "Except myself!"
When she was born in 1915, zippers were a new invention, antibiotics were undiscovered and horses outnumbered cars on the street.
"My life changed when my mother died," Mary reveals. It shattered Mary, her three younger siblings and her dad. "[I] said to my father, 'I think I should stay home," Mary explains.
Although she was just a teenager, Mary became the matriarch of the family and achieved her goal of creating a happy home.
"Then I got married," Mary says. "My husband went overseas." He survived the war, but when he returned home he succumbed to cancer. "So there I was with three kids," Mary smiles bravely.
Mary says her priority has always been the well-being of her family. "You deal with things," she explains matter-of-factly. "Try to keep things as normal as possible in their lives."
If you ask Mary to sum up her past century, she says seriously, "I had problems," before her face softens with a smile. "But I've enjoyed life."
Her focus has always been the same things she credits with her longevity – love. "My children," she adds with a big smile. "And all my friends."
Friends like Margaret. Who – rather than 'oldest friend' – calls Mary her "ageless inspiration."
"She's a beautiful soul," Margaret smiles over to Mary. "All the way through."
