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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Big family, big party for 106-year-old
Birthday bash delights Oxford House woman
Sarah Harper 'happy, excited to celebrate' with family. (SUBMITTED PHOTO)
At 106 years old, Sarah Harper is reluctant to share her secret for longevity.
"No, I'm not going to tell!" the centenarian from Oxford House joked in Cree as her granddaughter translated. Family and friends around her burst into laughter.
Harper was honoured with a birthday celebration at St. Theresa Point Friday. More than 60 family and friends came from the community and across the province to honour their mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.
"She was always active. She was always running and lived on wild food all her life. She worked all the time," said her granddaughter, Joan Grieves, from Oxford House.
Harper became wheelchair-bound just this spring and is still active and mentally sharp, Grieves said.
"She's very outgoing. She laughs a lot. She tells a lot of jokes," Grieves said.
It's debatable when Harper was born. Some records say 1901, others say 1904 or 1906. Her family has settled on Aug. 24, 1906, as the right date.
"She never was sick when she was young," Grieves said. "Maybe that's why she's so strong."
Among her accomplishments, her family said she witnessed the signing of Treaty 5 in 1909, although she would have been just three at the time.
She met her husband, John Harper, while he worked for the Hudson's Bay Co. hauling freight from Island Lake to Oxford House, Grieves said.
"They saw each other there and fell in love," she laughed.
She and her husband, who died in 1972, lived in the Old Post settlement at Island Lake before moving to Oxford House and raising a family. Sarah had six children -- two girls and four boys -- and has more grandchildren and great-grandchildren than her family can count.
On Friday, she met some of her grandchildren and other relatives for the first time as her birthday celebration became a family reunion.
"I'm very happy, very excited to celebrate," Harper said. The community organized a feast in her honour and there were even promises Harper would make bannock. There were traditional games, a powwow and square dancing.
Harper represents important ties among Manitoba's aboriginal people, said David McDougall, a former St. Theresa Point chief, who represented the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs at the celebration.
"There's a lot of history, and these things make us realize we are one big family," he said.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 25, 2012 A8
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