Sadie Graham, one of the last known survivors of the Halifax Explosion, has died.
She was 107.
She died peacefully on Friday of natural causes in her Dartmouth nursing home, her son, Terry Graham, said on Tuesday.
Born in 1912 in Halifax, Sadie was five years old on Dec. 6, 1917, when the munitions ship Mont Blanc blew up in Halifax harbour after a collision with the Norweigan ship Imo. The blast devastated the city.
Terry Graham said COVID-19 restrictions imposed in March kept him from his daily visit with his mother before she passed away.
“I hadn't seen her for two months,” he said.
“And then just a couple of weeks ago, they started doing Facetime, so I was able to speak to her twice, on the telephone. And once was the day before she died, and she looked beautiful. Her hair was done and her face was a beautiful colour. And she was very alert and knew who I was.
“I asked her 'how do you spend your time, mother?' And she said 'oh, just loving everybody.'”
With roots in Cheticamp, Sadie lost her mother at an early age and her father, Peter Muise, had to take in boarders after the disaster.
She had eight children with her husband John Graham, but he was injured in a car crash and paralyzed in the 1960s.
Life was hard for her but Terry Graham said his mother persevered.
“She lived very easily,” he said. “Even though life was difficult, she managed to go through it sort of like a swan, with all of the activity under water but placid on top.”
Following the province's most recent health guidelines, the family was able to have a service at the funeral home with 10 people on Monday and 15 came to the graveyard on Tuesday, he said.
His sister Colleen Fitzgerald was unable to come for the funeral from Fredericton because of the restrictions but was able to participate online thanks to the use of an iPad.
“When the time opens up, we will have a mass for her, a celebration of her life,” Graham said. “And I think that will be a time for all of her friends to celebrate her life.”
His mother had a wide circle of friends and he said it was a comfort to know so many people loved her.
After Sadie's story appeared in the Chronicle Herald in December, people around the world reached out to her. Children, history buffs and well-wishers made contact.
“Not only children, but autograph seekers,” Terry said. “There was someone from the U.K., someone from Germany, a couple from California, Texas, Buffalo, N.Y., New Jersey.
“She just took it in stride. I was more pleased that she was.”
He said a California man wrote back to thank the family for taking the time to autograph a photo and send a letter.
“I feel that mother is not gone,” Graham said. “I still feel that she is with me. I look at a picture of her and I have a full feeling, not an absent, longing feeling.”
