SYDNEY, N.S. — Sister Catherine MacPhee is also looking back on a remarkable 85 years of religious service.
The Cape Breton centenarian has lived through two world wars and two global pandemics.
To see her move around, you wouldn't think she was 106 years young.
"I feel very well, I do," MacPhee said. "I'm blessed with good health."
While she says she has no aches or pains at her age, Sister Catherine is blind.
She lost her sight about five years ago, and while she says it is a hindrance, she is able to take it in stride.
"I won't see myself this evening when I listen to Live at 5, but I'll hear what I have to say to you!"
Her life in religious service started when she was 20 years old in 1935.
Little did she know she would serve as a sister for more than eight decades.
It's something she holds close to her heart to this day.
"She is very well-known," said Kim Hooper, the director of the MacGillivray Guest Home. "She is in her 85th year of religious life and she's very proud of that. Just based on the numerous phone calls and Facetime videos that we did with her on Sunday for her birthday party -- just a small birthday party -- it's remarkable how many people actually remember her."
MacPhee marked birthday number 106 surrounded by her friends at MacGillivray Guest Home, and even though visitors weren't allowed, the birthday girl still had a special day.
"I had all kinds of phone calls, cards, and chocolates," MacPhee said. "Everything that's good!"
You would never think MacPhee was 106 when you see her get up out of a chair.
She says when she was 76, she started walking twenty minutes a day - every day – weather permitting, and has been sticking to that routine for 30 years now.
"That's her secret to longevity, is making sure to get that twenty minute walk every day," Hooper said.
Since losing her sight, MacPhee says she's focused on what she can control, like staying limber, and keeping her memory sharp.
When asked what advice she has for others - in good times, or in bad, she said: "It's important to keep in contact with people. If you close them off, you close yourself off."
Some words of wisdom from a woman who is making six years past a hundred look pretty good.
