Saskatchewan’s oldest man: Red Deer Nursing Home resident Cliff Olson celebrates 109th birthday

Family Day 2020 carries more significance to the Olson family.

Monday, Feb. 17 is the day Cliff Olson, a resident at Red Deer Nursing Home in Porcupine Plain, celebrated his 109th birthday. He’s the oldest man in Saskatchewan and the second oldest man in Canada.

“It’s kind of unbelievable,” Cliff’s nephew Gary said. “My dad is 99 and they have a sister who is 105. There are some pretty good genes in that bunch. There were seven of them in the family and the youngest one died at 86. The rest of them were very close to 100.”

Gary said Cliff didn’t do anything out of the ordinary to help him get to 109. He grew up in Duval, Sask., farmed, played hockey and baseball, didn’t have any children, and didn’t marry his late wife Ruby until he was 75.

“He wasn’t really somebody you would have thought would live to a ripe old age,” he said. “When he was young, he had rheumatic fever… I remember him lots of times in his 50s and 60s in the wintertime, he’d have trouble with pneumonia all the time. Right now, he seems to be doing really good again, but there are times where he says: ‘I’m too damn old.’

“He seems to have picked himself up here in the last month or so. Up to 105, you could actually have a visit with him any time.”

Cliff doesn’t have any tips on how to live to 109. Gary said if anyone were to ask him, he’d just giggle.

When asked if age 110 – the supercentenarian birthday – is on the horizon for Cliff, Gary said he wasn’t sure, as the family felt that making it to 100 was enough of a milestone. Gary added Cliff doesn’t take a lot of medicine for his health.

In the meantime, Cliff has a brief birthday party planned at the nursing home, with his brother and nephew by his side.

“He says he wants ice cream and cake,” Gary laughed. “With him, it doesn’t matter what kind of cake and ice cream. It can’t be bad for you because nobody has eaten more ice cream than Cliff Olson.”

— By northeastNOW’s Aaron Schulze