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100 years – and counting

Surrey's Lee Douglas marks her century birthday, proud of her resilience during tough times.
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Lee Douglas celebrated her 100th birthday on May 3.

Surrey’s Lee Douglas celebrated a century earlier this month with a party with family and friends.

Born Leotta Lovica Urquart on May 3, 1914 in Assiniboia, Sask., Douglas grew up on a farm in Rockglen, Sask. with her parents and six siblings.

When she was 18 she moved to Regina with her uncle and her aunt and worked as a nanny and went to night school for business. She later went back to school to study nursing.

She met Bill Douglas at a winter dance on January 1937 and the pair were married the following year.

They moved to Vancouver in 1941 and had son David in November 1943. Her husband Bill served in World War Two. While he was overseas, she continued her work as a landlord and foster mother in their home in Vancouver. After the war, Bill came home to a wife and son he hadn’t seen in three years.

It was 1974 when Lee and Bill moved to Surrey, where they enjoyed their retirement by crafting their surroundings. They spent many hours in their garden. Lee’s eye for beauty and green thumb helped transform their suburban back yard garden into a tranquil park-like setting which she still enjoys with family and friends. Even at 100 years of age Lee is most happy when the sun shines and she is outside pulling weeds and planting.

Lee says her biggest life accomplishments are that she did the best she could working against great odds especially in the “hungry ’30s” and during wartime. She cherished the nearly 60 years of marriage until her husband Bill passed away June 18, 1997.