Patricia Beecher of Abbotsford celebrates her 100th birthday on Dec. 8.
Beecher was born in Regina. Her parents, who were both teachers, instilled in her a lifelong desire to question, learn, and be aware of world events.
Her mother supported the suffragettes’ right to vote, and her father was a high school principal and school inspector.
To this day, Beecher is a great storyteller and loves discussing politics, current events, and theology. She has a life full of great memories from a broad range of experiences. She completed post-graduate studies in psychiatry and worked across Canada as a nurse and nursing educator.
Beecher even worked in New York City after the Second World War. She says that sometimes she would just feel the urge to pack up her car and start travelling to a new place because it was easy to get a job as a nurse.
Other memorable experiences included working as a nurse in a mining camp, as a public health nurse on Vancouver Island, and as the director of nursing in the Abbotsford Regional Psychiatric Centre.
She has regularly participated at Learning Plus and courses at Fraser Valley College (now University of the Fraser Valley) and Regent College.
Beecher has travelled extensively around the world and has enjoyed playing with various bridge and card groups, and she still lives independently.
Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, she is unable to have a gathering for her birthday.