Merle Barwis
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Merle E. Barwis (December 23, 1900 – November 22, 2014) was an American-Canadian
supercentenarian A supercentenarian (sometimes hyphenated as super-centenarian) is a person who has reached the age of 110 years. This age is achieved by about one in 1,000 centenarians. Supercentenarians typically live a life free of major age-related diseases u ...
who was at the time of her death, aged 113 years 334 days, the oldest living resident of Canada and one of oldest people ever in Canada. She became the oldest living person in Canada from the death of Cora Hansen on April 18, 2012, until her own death 2 years and 7 months later. Barwis was the last living Canadian person to have been born during the reign of
Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
.


Biography

Merle Barwis was born on December 23, 1900, in
Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...
, United States. A few years later, her family moved to
Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...
, Canada.Canada’s oldest known citizen — and last Victorian — prepares to turn 112 before Christmas
Retrieved July 20, 2014.
She married Dewey Barwis in 1923 and had three children. Her husband worked in the
Canadian Pacific railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...
. In 1952, her husband having retired, her family moved to
Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. Th ...
. Her husband died in 1966. She outlived her two sons and two of her 10 grandchildren. At the time of her death, she had 17 great-grandchildren. At the time of her death she was the fourth-longest lived person ever in Canada and the oldest person ever to live in
British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
.


See also

*
List of Canadian supercentenarians This article lists Canadian supercentenarians (people from Canada who have attained the age of at least 110 years). The oldest verified Canadian person ever was Marie-Louise Meilleur, who died in 1998 aged 117 years, 230 days. As of , the oldest li ...
*
List of supercentenarians from the United States A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: People * List (surname) Organizations * List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America * SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
*
Longevity The word " longevity" is sometimes used as a synonym for "life expectancy" in demography. However, the term ''longevity'' is sometimes meant to refer only to especially long-lived members of a population, whereas ''life expectancy'' is always d ...


References


External links


Celebrating a 111th Birthday
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Barwis, Merle Canadian supercentenarians Women supercentenarians American supercentenarians American expatriates in Canada American emigrants to Canada