A SENIOR AMONG SENIORS

Beth Holtom, and life at 96

Beth Holtom celebrated her 96th birthday with
fellow Terrace Leprosy Mission members at the home
of Mrs. Gellert last Tuesday morning. In honour of
the occasion, Norah Gines played The Serenade on
her flute, accompanied by Miss Kim. Then she played
Solvig’s Song, a Norwegian ballad, on the piano.

A number of poems and proverbs were read, one
advocating, "Life is wiser when we start showing
those wrinkles,” When asked what
keeps her looking so young and
unwrinkled, Mrs. Holtom replied,

"I eat healthy foods, stay young at
heart and have cold showers." Mrs.
Holtom explains that even as a
youngster on the prairies, she
would splash around in a cold wash
basin or in puddles after a heavy
rain. Now, she has the luxury of
cold, not-so-cold, or even hot
showers in her apartment at the
Willows.

Mrs. Holtom has been a mem-
ber of the Leprosy Mission for a
number of years. Each month, the
group of 12 to 15 women gather at
member’s homes to pray for mis-
sionaries working with lepers, to
keep up to date on progress being
made against the disease, and to

other side.

In 1952, Beth, her husband and children Marion,
Del and Donald travelled to Prince Rupert from
Kelowna (via Vancouver) aboard a CP ocean liner.
She recalls the wonderful strains of waltz music
drifting over the waters of English Bay as passengers
were transported to the ship in launches, and the
elegance of travel in those days. Beth Holtom has

provide financial support to the
leprosy missions through offerings

Beth Holtom: wits still intact.

and two or three bake sales and
one crafts sale held annually, This
year, the Leprosy Mission celebrates 100 years in
Canada. Terrace’s group is celebrating its 34th year.
Born in Austria/Hungary in 1896, Mrs. Holtom
came to Canada when she was only five years old
with her parents, an older brother and one younger
sister. Two more sisters were born after their arrival.
They settled on the shores of Indian Arm near
Vancouver, with an invisible but very definite bound-
ary between the European community and the
Indian reservation. She remembers being warned
about crossing the "line", but didn’t discover until
years later that it was a native community on the

58 . Terrace Review — February 28, 1992

always yearned for another such trip. She almost
had the chance to travel by sea to Ketchikan last
summer, but plans changed at the last minute.
Mrs. Holtom is an active and "feisty" 96. She is
a very interested and loyal member of Terrace’s
Branch 73 of the B.C. Old Age Pensioners’ Organiz-
ation and enjoys nature, the outdoors and people.
Already having some difficulty reading, Mrs. Holtom
says philosophically, "As long as I can have my wits
about me, going blind is the least of my worries."

— Betty Barton