Spouse(s) Dewey Barwis Children Three | Name Merle Barwis | |
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Born December 23, 1900 ( 1900-12-23 ) Des Moines, Iowa, United States Died November 22, 2014, Victoria, Canada | ||
Celebrating a 111th Birthday
Merle E. Barwis (December 23, 1900 – November 22, 2014) was an American-Canadian supercentenarian who was at the time of her death, aged 113 years 334 days, the oldest living resident of Canada and one of oldest people ever in Canada. She became the oldest living person in Canada from the death of Cora Hansen on April 18, 2012, until her own death 2 years and 7 months later. Barwis was the last living Canadian person to have been born during the reign of Queen Victoria.
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Biography
Merle Barwis was born on December 23, 1900, in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. A few years later, her family moved to Saskatchewan, Canada. She married Dewey Barwis in 1923 and had three children. Her husband worked in the Canadian Pacific railway. In 1952, her husband having retired, her family moved to Victoria, British Columbia. Her husband died in 1966.
She outlived her two sons and two of her 10 grandchildren. At the time of her death, she had 17 great-grandchildren.
At the time of her death she was the fourth-longest lived person ever in Canada and the oldest person ever to live in British Columbia.