Celebrating Sister Rita Heenan: Our Centenarian
On April 19th, an elegant afternoon tea in our front foyer was the setting for the celebration of the 100th birthday of Sister Rita Heenan. She arrived from the care centre on the arm of her loving sister, Rose and looked radiant in her special suit on the lapel of which was pinned a stunning white orchid. Amid smiles and clapping from family, friends and community members, Sr. Rita took her place in front of the decorated mantel.
The celebrations honouring Sr. Rita included the presentation of a framed Papal blessing from Pope Francis. Michelle Vermeeren, local administrator, spoke in absentia of the yet to arrive greetings from Queen Elizabeth and Governor General, Mary Simon. Other presentations included congratulations from our Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada and Premier Doug Ford of Ontario.
There was a nostalgic moment at the end of presentations when a former graduate nurse of the class of 1967 presented Sr. Rita with a beautiful basket of flowers from the graduating class of that year. This was to honour Sr. Rita, then known as Sister St. Roch who was teacher and director of Sisters of St. Joseph School of Nursing in London from 1946-1969.
As birthday cake was cut and shared, Sister’s guests rejoiced in her becoming a centenarian. In fact, living to the age of 100 puts Sister Rita in a unique class of her own. Although more people today are living to reach the 100 milestone, only about 1 in 4,500 people in America are centenarians. In Canada, that relates to about 0.0173%.
Sister Rita is a poster person for the outline of how to live to be 100: eat a healthy diet, manage stress, don’t smoke 😉, think positive, and sleep well. No doubt she would add,
“Live a life of deep faith and service to the dear neighbour”.
-Sister Jean Moylan, csj