She loves the great outdoors
Published Tuesday October 28th, 2008
A healthy diet, lots of exercise and a shot of scotch every night keeps this 94-year-old feeling fit and fine.
Glenys (Edger) Morris is up and out of bed by 6:30 a.m. After she has a shower and gets dressed, she goes to breakfast at the dining room at Ste. Anne's Court, where she is a resident. Porridge is always on her breakfast menu.
"I love my porridge."
After she eats, she bundles up and goes outdoors where she walks for an hour, getting in a couple of miles.
"I do that in the morning and the afternoon. I feel that's what's kept me well. I feel terrific."
She feels great and it's largely due to her passion for spending time outside. No matter the weather, you will find Morris walking. What happens when the snow falls and the sidewalks are icy?
"I've got great boots and I've got big feet. It does help. I look at these ladies with their little feet, they're bound to topple. But when you've got big feet like mine ... I've always been on them," she says as she howls with laughter.
She's always loved to walk. As a young girl her father would ask her to exercise their several large dogs. And because there were no cars, she walked or bicycled everywhere.
Her vision is blurred and she is deaf in one ear but she doesn't let that stop her from enjoying an active lifestyle. Always an avid reader, she has opted to listen to books-on-tape.
"You graduate from small print to large print and then to one of these things," she says pointing to a narrated book.
When she comes back from her walk she will sit in her easy chair and listen to these narrated stories.
After about half-an-hour, she's up again doing laundry and tidying her apartment. By then it's time for lunch.
"I won't eat meat. I eat fish. I'd kill for fish. I watch what I eat."
She's not a vegetarian, however, because she has a penchant for spicy pepperoni that she enjoys whenever she goes to the farmers' market.
Morris listens to current affairs on the radio and then it's back outside for another long walk. She also loves to bowl twice weekly at Ste. Anne's Court. The resident enrichment co-ordinator sets up the pins that the bowlers knock down in one of the corridors.
At the end of the day she enjoys a nightcap. Nothing girly or fruity for her. She takes a shot of scotch with a little water.
"It helps you go to sleep and I sleep well. It's better than any sleeping pill."
Born is Wales on Aug. 13, 1914, Morris is proud to say she will celebrate her 95th birthday next summer.
When she was 15 her family immigrated to Canada. At first she didn't care for it. Then the snow flew and she was enchanted by the winter wonderland.
"The winter, to me, is lovely."
When she was 16 she was struck by a car and sustained serious head injuries and a broken arm. Faint scarring on her forehead bears witness to that time.
She met William Morris when she was 20. He too was an immigrant from Wales.
"He knew people in Wales that I knew and my mother knew. He came from a rather nice family. He was tall; a six-footer."
She liked his calm, gentle nature.
They married at her family's home in Montreal. William and Glenys Morris had two years together when he was sent to a hospital after a military medical exam showed his lungs were bad.
"It was at the start of the war. He went to join and they found it. He had pleurisy and he stayed in the sanitorium for about eight years."
Throughout the war years she worked as a riveter, repairing damaged training planes. She liked it and she was pretty good, she recalls.
When her husband was released from the hospital, they moved to Halifax. The smell of the salt air reminded her so much of Wales.
"That's what helped me to stay in Canada. We moved to Nova Scotia and we lived there for 60 years."
Their family expanded with the birth of their two daughters. She was 32 years old when she delivered her first daughter, Lynn. Then, when she was 37, she had Christine.
For 30 years she worked at Mills Brothers. As a former clothing purchaser, she is still very aware of fashion. Dressed in beige slacks and a powder blue top, she looks lovely.
"I love to dress up. I've got grandchildren talking about marriage. I told my daughter Chris I'm going to have to get a dress."
She loved buying clothing for the upscale fashion boutique. Through this job she met many interesting people, including the wife of former Prime Minister John Diefenbaker.
She's endured many difficult times, including a couple of miscarriages, the passing of her father, her sister and her husband.
William Morris passed away 32 years ago following an aneurysm.
"That was a shocker. It was a bad one. He was a great guy. I was with him for 40 years. We had a lot of fun. We used to play poker and crib."
Glenys Morris always found things to do to stay active. For years she swam and even became a professional dog walker and house sitter.
"I loved it and I got paid for it."
She remained in Halifax until she was 89. Then she moved to Fredericton. Once a week she enjoys having dinner with her daughter's family. There she often eats one of her favourite dishes, fish and chips.
She is a proud mother of five grandchildren who are all doing very well for themselves, she says. Her hope is to live long enough to hold some great-grandbabies, she says.
"I love my grandchildren very much and I love my family and I've had the love back. We have a bit of fun. I'm sure half of the reason I'm living longer is because of them. If it wasn't for Chris and Lynn, I probably wouldn't be here."
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