ESTEVAN - Blanche Keating has an extra reason to celebrate on Christmas day each year: it's her birthday.
And in 2024, she is celebrating her 107th birthday. She has been receiving birthday and Christmas greetings from family, friends and people in the community.
Keating was born in 1917 and raised in the Weyburn area. She moved to Estevan in 1960 with her husband Francis and their children, after she accepted a teaching job at the former St. John's School. After moving to Estevan, she switched to elementary school and retired from teaching in 1982, ending a long career she enjoyed.
Keating enjoyed travelling after she retired, visiting family members spread throughout the country. She also ventured to Europe on multiple occasions.
When she celebrated her 100th birthday in 2017, she was still living on her own at her home on First Street, which the Keatings purchased in the 1960s for $6,500.
Keating later moved to Creighton Lodge, where she lived until December 2023, when she relocated to the Estevan Regional Nursing Home. She was recognized by the nursing home during its monthly birthday party on Dec. 9, and saluted again during the Christmas tea on Dec. 24.
Earlier in 2024, she was seen in the front row of the Coal Creek Festival in Bienfait, braving the blustery conditions to enjoy the music at the annual event.
She still writes her own Christmas cards to her family each year. She recently took a trip on an airplane to Ottawa in September for a grandson's wedding, and she celebrated her 107th birthday while in Ottawa with many family members.
Good genes, good family, good friends and a good God – Keating says these are the reasons she has been able to live not just a long and full life, but to still be in good shape, both physically and mentally, past 100. She enjoys living at the nursing home, and when she is told she is amazing, she replies "no, God is amazing".
