{"id":17609,"date":"2025-02-19T11:51:46","date_gmt":"2025-02-19T11:51:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/torontotribune.ca\/index.php\/2025\/02\/19\/1-month-shy-of-her-113th-birthday-canadas-oldest-person-shares-some-wisdom\/"},"modified":"2025-02-19T11:51:46","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T11:51:46","slug":"1-month-shy-of-her-113th-birthday-canadas-oldest-person-shares-some-wisdom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/torontotribune.ca\/index.php\/2025\/02\/19\/1-month-shy-of-her-113th-birthday-canadas-oldest-person-shares-some-wisdom\/","title":{"rendered":"1 month shy of her 113th birthday, Canada\u2019s oldest person shares some wisdom"},"content":{"rendered":"


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One month shy of her 113th birthday, the oldest person in Canada<\/a> is sharing some of her well earned wisdom.<\/p>\n

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The country\u2019s oldest living woman, Margaret Romans, was born in Latvia in 1912 and moved to Montreal in 1947 and says she\u2019s thankful to be here. What keeps her going? Gratitude, curiosity, and always looking forward, she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI say thank you God for bringing me and my family to this good country,\u201d she told Global News in an interview on Tuesday at her seniors\u2019 residence.<\/p>\n

Romans recalls only positive memories from her life back in Latvia until the Soviet Union occupation in the 1940s. That\u2019s when Romans and her late husband left for Canada \u2014 one of her favourite memories, she says.<\/p>\n

She worked as a community art teacher at the YMCA and her husband, Heinrich Romans, worked as an engineer. Her family says her love for teaching and thirst for knowledge are still her strongest traits.<\/p>\n

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Romans\u2019 family told Global News she\u2019s still very interested in knowing what\u2019s going on in her community, her country and around the world.<\/p>\n

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Her grand nephew, Juris Terauds, said his great aunt is always looking forward to tomorrow.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether it\u2019s with us, the family, the kids, friends,\u201d he says, \u201cor even what\u2019s going on in the news. She can\u2019t read like she used to, so she listens to the radio. But she\u2019s always looking to know what\u2019s coming up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Romans\u2019 advice on how to live a long life is simple: be curious about the world around you.<\/p>\n

She advises the younger generation to never hold on to a grudge, and says learning is the first step to understanding.<\/p>\n