Bouquets of pink and white balloons, a gourmet cake shaped into the number 100, champagne and best wishes from Queen Elizabeth welcomed Elinor Sanders on June 5 as The Wexford residents gathered to celebrate her 100th birthday.
Sanders was born and raised in Swift Current, Sask. In the latter stages of the First World War.
In the span of 100 years she would experience the Great Depression, marry her college sweetheart George Lentsch and travel across Canada as they brought four children into the world. They would settle in Ladner to raise their family and enjoy the B.C. coastline. Following the death of her husband in 1975, and while in her late 50s, she learned how to paint, eventually becoming a prolific artist. She became a music teacher and faced her public speaking fears byjoining International Training in Communication, a group she would become actively involved in for the next 40 years.
Love eventually returned to her life and following her marriage to Bert Sanders they spent the next 33 years golfing and wintering in their beloved Maui.
At age 99, she moved to The Wexford in Tsawwassen. The caring staff have not only made her downsizing experience pleasant, they have made her feel a part of their family.
For her birthday celebration, her family joined her new family at The Wexford to celebrate a life well lived and to tuck away yet another memory of this remarkable woman.
