On June 9, 1925, Bernice Louise Grant entered quietly into the world, the ninth of ten siblings. Her father, Henry Grant, was one of the many poor, orphaned, or abandoned British Home Children sent to Canada to work as labourers. Indentured on a farm near Coaticook, Quebec, Henry later became a self-made chef and baker in nearby Lennoxville, Bernice’s birthplace. During the Great Depression, Bernice and her family moved to Verdun, Montréal, and then to Huntingdon, where her father started Grant’s Bakery. That bakery still exists today – a lasting reminder that some family recipes, and some family members, have remarkable staying power.
Determined not to remain a small-town girl, Bernice moved to Montreal during World War II and married her childhood sweetheart, Harry Hoy, when the war ended. Several years of hard work followed, along with raising four children. In 1960, Harry opened Parkway Pontiac Buick GMC, a car dealership that operated for more than 50 years. During this period, Bernice travelled the world with Harry. Learning to love golf, Bernice won several awards at the Royal Montreal Golf Club. Bernie and Harry eventually moved to Chute-à-Blondeau, Ontario. When Harry passed away in 2019, Bernice continued to live with her daughter, Diane Hoy, on her solar farm near Hawkesbury. Just before her 100th birthday, Bernice encouraged a niece to write a book, Henry Grant’s Family Legacy, documenting her father Henry’s remarkable journey from Home Child to successful businessman and the history of the Grant family. Apparently, turning 100 was not enough to keep her busy – she was still finding new ways to inspire the next generation.
Bernice’s life has unfolded during one of the most advanced and exciting periods in human history. Now, at age 101, she has lived through the terms of 13 Canadian prime ministers, the reigns of four British monarchs, the Great Depression, and World War II. Since 1925, humanity has experienced an extraordinary period of innovation. Outliving many inventions once considered revolutionary, Bernice has witnessed it all – from iceboxes to microwaves, typewriters to smartphones, radio dramas to streaming services, and handwritten letters to emojis – along with atomic bombs, DNA coding, microsurgery, robotics, AI, and space travel.
Bernice lost two sons to illness, but she remains the loving mother of Diane and Richard, the grandmother of five, and great-grandmother of seven. Her recent gifts include a Kindle and a solar-powered bird station with a camera. While many people half her age are still figuring out modern technology, Bernice has books arriving wirelessly and birds appearing on screen. She still follows golf, tennis, and politics with keen interest. After a century of watching world leaders come and go, she has likely earned the right to offer a few pointers!
Through it all, she has remained resilient, curious, loving, and engaged – a woman who has never stopped learning, adapting, and taking an interest in the world around her. Not bad for someone who was born when a loaf of bread cost only a few cents and radios had not yet arrived in most homes.
(Previously published in The Review, Vankleek Hill, Ontario)