'She's a real inspiration': Edmonton woman celebrates 110th birthday Saturday

An Edmonton woman celebrated her 110th birthday Saturday.

Irene Lantz spent the day having lunch with family, who call her long, healthy life an inspiration.

Irene was born in Saskatchewan. After spending some time in Calgary, she moved to Edmonton in the 1950s and lived at home until she was 104.

She's been living at the Canterbury Foundation since 2018, where she's well loved and well liked.

"She is a fantastic lady, she's always walking around," Jody DePagie, an assistant supervisor at Centerbury said. "She's never late for lunch, (she's) early for dinner. She's really happy."

There are around 15 centenarians at Canterbury, DePagie said, but never one with as many birthdays under the belt as Irene.

"I can't believe it – 110," DePagie said. "It must be the food, the food is pretty good here."

While the food may be good at Canterbury, Irene's family said she lived a life full of good food.

She loved to fish, grew her own fruits and vegetables and squeezed her own fresh juice from the garden. While she was famous for her apple wine, she was never a big drinker, her family said.

"She was a homemaker and she was sort of one the first healthy persons. She would make her own yogurt," her nephew Pat said.

At 110, she's still very independent, active and watching what she eats, her daughter-in-law Ruth Lantz said.

"She really does look after herself," Ruth added. "She's a real inspiration, just the stories she tells about how she lived.

"She exercised all her life by dancing … She took the bus until she was 101, 102."

Irene's family credit her long life in part to her nature as well. She is a kind, non-judgmental person who finds joy in every moment, they said.

"She told me, she said 'I only worry what's under my roof.'" he said. "It means to keep your nose in your own business, live your own life and be happy about it." 

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Dave Mitchell