Doris Silcox has had a long life.
Now 98-years-old, Silcox has lived through the first and second world wars, the Great Depression, the civil rights movement, the Cold War, and many other events which have shaped our country.
But it's not those events she remembers about her life. It's her family.
After spending a short time with Silcox, who now lives in Coteau Place in Arcola, it becomes apparent how important her family is to her.
She recalls, in great detail, stories of her dad when he worked as a forester in Montana, her children as they grew up and the years she spent on the farm.
She proudly displays a drawing one of her great-grandchildren drew when she was three-years-old, smiling as she speaks about her artistic skill. An artist herself - Silcox travelled around Southeast Saskatchewan as she taught art classes for many years - Silcox takes great pride her now five-year-old great-granddaughter's ability create a three-dimensional drawing.
When Silcox isn't showing off her great-granddaughter's art to those who come for a visit, she's knitting. And don't let her age fool you, she may be 98, but she can still knit circles around most people.
"I have knitted sweaters every since I can remember," said Silcox. "My mother showed me how to work a couple needles together, and I would have been nine at that time. From then on I have been knitting, knitting, knitting. I even got a spinning wheel and was spinning wool right from the sheep's back."
Silcox would receive her wool from relatives in British Columbia who knew she had begun spinning her own wool. However, sometimes it came with wood ticks, so she had to wash it carefully to ensure she removed all the little pests.
"I would have been over 80 at the time [when I got the spinning wheel]," said Silcox. "So I started spinning. So I spun yarn and knitted sweaters. I think I knitted 11 sweaters for adults out of pure yarn I had spun. I just figured it out because there was no one to show me. And it was amazing I was able to do it because I had to wash the wool, dry it and card it. I had to get all the dirt out of it."
In the later years of her life, the sweaters she knitted have always been donated to charities because Silcox insists that they go to help those in need.
"That is number 257," said Silcox, as she pointed to the dark purple sweater she started a few days ago. "They are all given away. They are given to the poor. Two of my daughters-in-law take them into Regina and they distribute them to the Salvation Army and the other places. I also give some to my grandson in Calgary and they have people they know who have children who need things like that. So they're distributed here in Saskatchewan and in Alberta."
Silcox has only been knitting and donating her sweaters for the past six years, meaning she would make approximately 42 sweaters a year, or just under one a week.
"I had one woman say she would give me $100 for any one of those sweaters," said Silcox.
But that's the beauty of Silcox's sweaters. She outright refuses to sell any of them because she believes whole-heartedly in giving them away to people less fortunate than herself.
"I give away every one of them," said Silcox.
She gains much joy from being able to donate her sweaters to those in need and is grateful for everyone who brings her yarn to use.
"For the first four years I bought the yarn, but in the last two years, people have been realizing I'm knitting and I'm flooded with yarn," said Silcox. "So I'll be knitting for as long as I live.
