110-year-old Fort Erie, Ont., man says to treat others as you'd like to be treated
CBC
When he turned 105, Fort Erie, Ont., resident Burdett Sisler told his son Norman that his goal was to live to be 110.
"I was a little skeptical," Norman said.
But on April 13, Burdett met his goal. Now, the supercentenarian hopes he'll make it to the year 2030.
"Maybe I can hang in there," Burdett told CBC Hamilton, chuckling. "It's something to look forward to."
Burdett uses a wheelchair and has some difficulty seeing and hearing, but "he makes it work" and is otherwise healthy for his age, so there's "no reason why he couldn't live to 2030," Norman said.
The Sisler family says as far as they can tell from their research, Burdett is Canada's oldest living man — a record Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) noted in a Facebook post wishing him a happy birthday.
Burdett worked for the agency after the war as an appraiser at the Peace Bridge port of entry in Fort Erie from 1949 to 1979.
He was born in Akron, Ohio, in 1915. His family moved to Toronto in 1918 to open a tire factory, where Burdett eventually worked.
Burdett was married in 1939, just days after Britain declared war on Germany. He enlisted and travelled to Nova Scotia for training then.
"He never got overseas or there's a good chance I wouldn't be here," Norman said. Burdett worked for the military after the war before starting his customs job.
His wife died 40 years ago and he retired 45 years ago, but Burdett stayed active and engaged in his retirement by following the news, calling bingo and working with adult literacy groups, Norman said. Burdett also drove until he turned 100.
"To quote my wife, 'He keeps us young,'" said Norman, 75.
The family helped him live in his own home until about three years ago, taking shifts during the first few years of the pandemic to ensure he had support.
Burdett has five children, 11 grandchildren, 22 great-grandchildren and 14 great-great-grandchildren, by the family's count. He's seen two world wars, two pandemics and two solar eclipses.
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