Mary Morrissey is well prepared for the photo shoot.
Staff has just got her up out of bed late on this Friday morning for the occasion.
Her snow-white hair neatly brushed and a fresh coating of red lipstick applied, Morrissey is pushed through the crowd of fellow residents at Beach Grove Home in Charlottetown that are seated for lunch.
Morrissey looks festive in a lovely white blouse sprinkled generously with black polka-dots.
A pearl necklace hangs below a small dark red scarf.
Sitting in her wheelchair, head down, Morrissey fusses with her blouse.
She is gently instructed to smile for the cameraman, to look his way.
For a short time, her eyes remain closed, not making for the most flattering of possible poses to be captured on camera.
Eventually, though, her eyes open, the right one fully, but the left one in more of a squint.
She looks off to the side peacefully, presenting a nice image for the photographer to snap.
Her thoughts at that moment remain her own.
Morrissey can be quite chatty at times, note staff.
On this day, though, she is not in the mood to talk about her long life or to talk at all.
Fortunately, her son Leonard Morrissey is quite willing to detail the interesting life of the woman born Mary Evelyn Murray on Dec. 4, 1904 in Emyvale, Prince Edward Island.
Mary taught in one-room schools, first in Fort Augustus and later in Emyvale, says Leonard in a telephone interview from his home in Vancouver, B.C.
Later, she bought and ran a business called The Economy Grocery Store located on the corner of Kent Street and Hillsborough Street.
She married Walter Morrissey. He sold cars. She kept running the store.
Mary was almost 45 when Leonard, the couple’s only child, was born.
Walter died in a car accident in 1964. Mary never remarried. She did keep on working.
Remarkably, Mary worked as a receptionist at the Dundee Arms Inn into her early nineties.
She lived on her own in a Charlottetown apartment until the age of 95 before moving in to an assisted living facility.
She remained largely independent though, making her way around town.
Mary long had a passion for bridge and a devotion to religion.
Leonard recalls his mother going to church seven days a week.
“Bridge she enjoyed, but religion was her life,’’ he says.
Leonard says his mother, who never had a driver’s licence, used to attribute her longevity to regular walking.
Leonard believes healthy genes have plenty to do with the fact his mother will celebrate her 110th birthday Thursday.
Two of Mary’s five siblings lived well into their nineties with her brother Mathias Murray dying just months shy of turning 100.
“The woman was extremely healthy,’’ says Leonard.
“I can never remember her having a cold or the flu.’’
Each year, Leonard returns to P.E.I. to celebrate his mother’s birthday.
He no longer marvels at mom’s incredible longevity that most certainly places her today among the oldest residents of P.E.I., if not indeed as the oldest.
No records are kept to confirm the oldest resident in the province.
Leonard has come to take Mary’s many, many years and counting for granted.
“She keeps hanging in there,’’ he says.
“I don’t shake my head (in amazement) anymore. Other people do.’’
