Longtime Wellington County resident Edna Grace Lush is celebrating her 100th birthday on July 25.
Though she now lives in Guelph at the Elliot Community, Edna was born in former Eramosa Township and that’s where she spent most of her adult years as well.
Born Edna Grace Scott, she grew up on the 4th Line in former Eramosa Township and attended Stone Church, her son Alex Lush said in an interview.
Before she was married Edna worked at the Homewood Health Centre in Guelph.
“She was … a bit of a prankster,” Alex said. “She was the first female to come to work at the Homewood in pants because females didn’t wear pants back then …
“She did stir the pot a little bit in her younger years.”
In 1938 Alex’s father, Cameron Lush, moved to Sudbury to work in the mines.
“(Cameron’s youngest brother) ended up with the home farm and dad had really no alternatives and he’d had some of his buddies from the township and some relations even had gone to Sudbury to get work and … the mine was looking for employees so it was easy to get a job and the pay was good,” Alex said.
“So his goal when he went up there was to make some money and get enough set aside that he could come back down and buy a farm.
“His goal right from the get go was to be a farmer.”
Edna and Cameron knew one another before he moved to Sudbury.
Within the same year, Edna joined him and the couple was married in Sudbury on Nov. 12, 1938.
After giving birth to two sons, David and Alex, the family moved back to Eramosa Township after buying Edna’s parents’ farm on Wellington Road 29.
The family farmed about 150 acres, planting mixed crops and raising livestock from cows to pigs, sheep and chickens.
Edna sold eggs on a route in Guelph for years, Alex said.
“She was certainly not one to sit around doing nothing,” he said.
“She had a large garden, always, and did preserves.
“You know, she really was a farm lady for sure.”
In 1973 the family sold the farm to the Grand River Conservation Authority when Guelph Lake was created and Edna and Cameron moved to Guelph.
They continued attending Barrie Hill United Church.
Edna was also an accomplished piano player. Though she never played formally for a church, “she played whenever she could,” Alex said.
And she didn’t always play alone.
“We tried to get … a small band going in the early times to play at dances,” Alex said.
“My mother played the piano, my brother played the violin and I played the sax and we did actually end up playing for a couple of dances but … we were young and Dave and I were busy going eight ways at once and it just never took off.
“I know mother would have loved to have had it continue on but it just didn’t.”
Edna has also played for residents at the Elliot.
“Her mobility has kind of stopped her from getting over to the piano now as easy so she doesn’t play as much now but she used to play and sing and the folks that were in the home, a lot of them would come and listen to her so she enjoyed that when she still could,” Alex said.
“She played Edelweiss from memory on the piano just recently, just in the last few weeks and sang it from memory too.”
While Edna is able to celebrate her 100th birthday along with Canada’s 150 anniversary, Cameron was the reeve of Eramosa Township and Wellington County warden when Canada celebrated its centennial year.
“That was part of her life being the wife of the reeve and the warden in the centennial year,” Alex said.
Now Edna lives at the Elliot, where she is often visited by her two sons, five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
The family is planning to visit Edna the Sunday before her birthday and the Elliot Community will be offering a cake and celebration on July 25, Edna’s 100th birthday.
