A potato a day among 105-year-old Shellbrook woman’s secrets for long life

Jun 16, 2018 | 9:00 AM

The First World War had not yet begun, Robert Borden was Prime Minister and the first Calgary Stampede had just been held in 1912 when Nellie Wendel (nee Watkinson) was born.

Nellie will be remembered in Shellbrook today after she passed away this week not too far short of her 106th birthday, making her one of the area’s longest-living citizens.

“She didn’t drink or smoke. She liked her coffee and she cooked a potato every day,” Nellie’s daughter-in-law Esther Wendel told paNOW after consulting with Nellie’s children Harvey, Jeannette, and Phyllis, all of whom are well into their 80s.

“She ate simply but well. She was active, and no one ever caught her sleeping much,” Wendel added. “Nellie liked the outdoors, was never afraid of trying anything, and was very loyal to her friends … although she noted many times ‘there aren’t any left.’”

Wendel was born Dec 21, 1912 in England and came to Canada in 1914 where her family settled in Central Butte. She married husband Carl in 1930 and during the dry years of the ’30s they hit the road in their two wagons, eventually settling in the Deer Ridge area where they built a store and post office.

Later, the family farmed in the Holbein area and after retiring in the 1960s, Nellie and Carl moved to Shellbrook.

“She was a lady when necessary and a kid with her grandchildren,” Wendel said.

A memorial service will be held at St. Andrew’s Anglican Church in Shellbrook at 2 p.m.

 

glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter:@princealbertNOW