Muskowekwan Elder celebrates her 104th birthday
- Tiffany Head | July 21, 2015
Imagine living through a century in this world, having seen all the changes that have happened in society and all the technology, which has changed the environment around you.
Philomene Moise celebrated her 104th birthday on July 11, 2015. She has been celebrated as being one of the oldest First Nations Elders in Saskatchewan.
She has lived through many changes and has seen her family grow to a point where they have lost track of how many grandchildren and great grandchildren she has.
Moise is the eldest of five siblings and she is currently staying in a care home in Lestock with her half-brother Dexter Cyr. Her husband, Joe Moise, passed away in 1975. She has had 13 children and 4 remain with her to this day.
“She has family: her half-brother, Dexter Cyr, is in there with her in the home. He is 93-years-old. She is the eldest of her siblings: Frank, Rose, Caroline, Dexter and Earl, that’s all her siblings, all younger than her of her dad’s side of her family,” says one of her two children, Marlene Moise-Hansen.
The other child, Douglas Moise, visits her daily and takes turns feeding her as she is blind, but otherwise she is in good health. She also suffers from a slowly progressing dementia, and sleeps most of the time.
She likes going to church and hearing mass at the home care place and also enjoys listening to music.
Moise has led a productive and healthy lifestyle where she has never smoked a cigarette.
“We have never known her to sit around and be lazy. Always a really motivated person and hard worker, physical labour, she hauled water and chopping wood, she made our clothes when we were small, she brought up about three families, worked hard and looked after them,” said Moise-Hansen.
The family hosted a come and go tea party on July 8, 2015.
Related story: Meet Saskatchewan's oldest Aboriginal people (2014)