Tatagwa View resident Gladys Baxter recently celebrated her 100th birthday. Of course, this is something she has in common with the City of Weyburn, but Gladys is a proof that one person can get a lot of living done in 100 years and counting.
Centennials don't come around often, so Gladys Baxter enjoyed her birthday celebration on the May long weekend with her family, who came from various places across the country. She also enjoyed all her many friends and family at a come and go tea held at Tatagwa on her real birthday, May 26.
One hundred years earlier, Gladys Emily Cottrell was born in the small town of Bampton, England. When she was 12 years old, along with their parents, Gladys, her sister and her four brothers, immigrated to Canada.
"My dad was a vet, so he came over under the soldier's settlement board," she said. "We were settled in south of Pangman."
"They put us in a little three room house on a quarter section of land? for eight of us," Gladys added, smiling.
"We went to school, it was a little country school," she said. "We had to walk two miles, in summer and winter. After grade nine I had to go to work. I worked in restaurants for a couple of years."
Gladys married Bernard Baxter in 1933.
"We lived in a little house in Paradise Valley," she said. "My husband worked in the grain elevator."
The couple raised a family of five, which included three daughters, Mary (Safnuk), Gloria (Mason) and Sherrill (Taylor), and two sons, Jim and Bernie Baxter.
"I worked at several places after I got married, and played a lot of sports," she said. "I played everything - from tennis, to baseball, to basketball, to curling, to badminton, to softball. Everything." She noted that she also always grew a garden.
After her husband passed away in 1960, Gladys moved to various places, including the town of Pangman, where she ran the cafe and later worked in the Red and White store.
It was in 1972 that Baxter moved to Weyburn, where she worked at Campbell's Meat Shop until her retirement in 1978. Even at the age of 65, Gladys still regularly played tennis.
Gladys lived in the Legion Towers for 32 years. Three years ago, she moved to Tatagwa View, where she remains quite active. She participates in the activities that are offered and she also enjoys watching a variety of game shows. She loves to watch all the Blue Jays games on TV, as well as tennis matches and curling.
Gladys noted that being 100 years old hasn't cramped her style.
"It doesn't feel any different to me," she said.
At 100 years old, Gladys still feeds the birds and tends her flowers.
She also enjoys playing cards, bridge, canasta, Kaiser and crib. She noted that she wouldn't mind getting herself to a casino to do some gambling soon.
Gladys continues to weave her legacy of laughter, enjoyment and hand-knitted garments and blankets for her 10 grandchildren and her 18 great grandchildren.
