Everybody say happy birthday to Agnes Murphy. She’s blowing out 107 candles this year. “Every year I forget my age, and then another birthday happens,” the nearly supercentenarian said at her surprise party on Saturday. Murphy was born in Alberta’s capital city in 1919 to horse-drawn carts and the very first motorcars. She rolled up at Shiloh Baptist Church in a limousine on Saturday afternoon to a family legacy she started in the 1950s. The gathering is a chance for the entire family to celebrate their granny. “We may not see each other for a whole year, but when we get here, we know it’s for granny. It’s exciting. We sing songs. We have a good time, and that’s what it’s all about,” her grandson, Reigan Dolen, said. And the family doesn’t take Murphy’s life for granted. She has a million stories, Dolen says – for example, her first husband died hours after the Second World War was declared over – that cement her position as a woman to be reckoned with. “As a 100-year-old Black woman, she’s told me stories that I cannot tell you, and I’m like, wow. Tough life,” Dolen said. “The discrimination was really real and she lived through it.” What defines her life, he says, was her quiet resilience through the years. Dolen himself was adopted 30 years ago. Murphy “accepted him from day one.” “She kept me under her wing, made me feel safe. I’ve had a really strong relationship with her. So I wanted to make this special for her.” The party was decorated with donations from Canadian Tire, Leon’s, and gifts like commemorative pins from the Royal Canadian Legion. “She’s the ‘Godfather’ of the family. Everybody knows granny. You come in, you kiss the ring, like the ‘Godfather’,” Dolen joked. Dolen created a website commemorating her birthday and the life she lived. Anyone can sign her birthday card. He says she enjoys reading the messages. With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Galen McDougall
