By Brenda Shaw
My Memories of Margaret Hack: On the Occasion of her 110th Birthday:
Margaret Miller Connery was born on 16 May 1906 in Manitoba, Canada, the daughter of James Connery and Mary Hoome Connery Plautje. Sometime between 1911 and 1916 her mother remarried to a Dutch-born man named William Plautje.
Margaret and Ed Hack were married on 10 March 1928 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Ed passed away many years ago but Margaret is living at Mariposa in Osoyoos and just celebrated her 110th birthday. She is the oldest living resident of B.C. and the third oldest living resident of all of Canada.
Margaret Hack spent many years working at the Oliver Co-op Packing House. They lived in a big old house south of town near Deadman’s Lake where they were market gardeners. Margaret also had a very dear hobby..she loved to collect dolls and had an extensive Barbie doll collection.
In their later years, Margaret and Ed took many, many cruises of which she documented each one with great care.
Margaret was a very funny lady. She loved to sing at work and always brought baked goods from the bakery for the crew. The crew….Bob Venables, Bruce Echlin, Eric Norton…all used to try and get one over on Margaret and once in a while they would be able to play some wild and crazy prank on her. She always took in good humour.
She had Ed wrapped around her little finger and there was not much that he wouldn’t do for her. Sadly they never had children but she was always looking out for everyone else’s kids and treated them with special attention.
Mom used to love telling this story: Margaret Hack (wife of Ed) was a lovely lady but a little daft at times and was very frugal when it came to money. She would always go in to Coy’s Meats and order 2 slices of bacon, 4 eggs, 2 weiners etc. etc. One day Don could not control himself. The meat market was packed as it was Friday and Margaret asked for 1 slice of cooked ham and 1 slice of bologna. Without hesitation, Don turned and looked straight at Margaret and said without a smile “Will you eat that here or should I wrap it?” Everybody just burst out laughing…poor Margaret didn’t get it at first but then she caught on!
Another story about Margaret involved my Dad. Margaret worked at the Co-Op Packing House and every day after work she and Ed would go home and Ed would start supper and draw a hot bath for Margaret. Believe it or not, he served her supper in the bathtub! One day Dad was out fixing something and Ed was busy trying to balance her tray. When Dad found out what Ed was doing he said “I can build her a tray to go across the bathtub….just like White Spot trays!” He went home that night and went down to his workshop to build the tray. He delivered it to Ed and Margaret the next night and Margaret absolutely loved it so much she told everyone at the Packing House!! Of course Don Coy and the crew heard about this tray and would tease Margaret every time she went in to get her meat order! Of course Margaret just loved being the center of attention.
Margaret and Ed would often go to the Legion on a Saturday night along with the gang and dance up a storm. She always told my Mom that Dad was the best dancer ever and she loved dancing with him. He always obliged her!
So Margaret..on your 110th birthday….HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY DEAR OLD FRIEND…Many more to come and may all your memories be happy ones.
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