Local woman celebrates 109th birthday

Lempi Koski has one goal left in life – she wants to live at least one more year until she hits super centenarian status.

Born on McIntyre Street in the heart of Port Arthur in 1906, the lifelong Northern Ontario woman celebrated birthday No. 109 on Thursday, surrounded by family and friends who served up cake and sang her Happy Birthday at a celebration held at Pioneer Ridge.

Eighty-five-year-old daughter June Steinhoff said her mother’s secret to longevity was always making sure she had three square meals a day.

“If nothing else, she’d boil a potato for supper. She might only have  a carrot and a wiener with it, but at least it was a balanced meal.
And she loved life.                                

“Even now, just recently, she said, ‘I’m not going until I’m 110.’ That’s her goal. So she’ll probably stay until then,” Steinhoff said.

In her younger days, Koski operated a kennel, breeding dogs, including Shadow, the Thunder Bay Police Service’s first canine officer.

“She was a great mum,” Steinhoff said. “I was brought up as an only child because I lost a sister when she was only four years old. So it was just me. Mum and dad had a good life together. My dad was a barber.”

Queen Elizabeth also sent greetings.

“I am delighted to hear that you are celebrating your one-hundred-and-ninth birthday,” wrote the United Kingdom’s longest-serving monarch, who took the throne in 1952, when Koski was 46-years-old.

“I send you my warmest congratulations on this happy occasion and good wishes for an enjoyable day.”

Koski is one of the oldest women in Canada, which according to Wikipedia, is home to just five people over the age of 110. Ontario’s Marguerite Wabano is believed to be the country’s oldest living person. She’ll turn 112 on Jan. 28.

Canada’s oldest woman, Marie-Louise Meilleur, lived to be 117. She died in 1998.