How many people do you know about to celebrate their 95th birthday with a nice hike in Killarney Provincial Park? Well, you need to meet Nina Burgess, who turns 95 on November 1.
Nina has been active since growing up on a farm near North Hatley in the Eastern Townships. She attended the Macdonald Institute at McGill University to obtain a degree in home economics. After teaching for a few years, marrying, and with two then-school-aged children, she went to Boston to acquire more qualifications, and ended up at the University of Toronto teaching nutrition to dental and hygienist students for the next 25 years.
But exercise was never far from her mind. She always enjoyed walking, but by pure chance, while talking to a fellow home economist at a conference in the mid-’90s, she was invited to join a small group of women who like to hike. They continue to hike to this day. Some of their hikes are extensive ones – in the Rockies, to the Magdalen Islands, and a few times to Newfoundland, while some are shorter, such as this year’s one to Killarney.
Another chance encounter changed Nina’s life.
One day she happened to be at Princess Margaret Hospital for a radiation appointment for breast cancer when she saw a poster recruiting cancer survivors to join a dragon boat team. That was in 2001. She has been paddling regularly with Dragons Abreast ever since.
This past September, Nina was honoured to walk through a course of raised paddles celebrating her at the GWN (Great White North) Dragon Boat Challenge. She still uses her original lifejacket, never washed, and a lovely paddle with a Maple Leaf emblem she got second-hand. She might be retiring, but “maybe I can be talked into coming back next year.”
Seven years ago, while walking down Bayview, she saw a sign advertising a unit availability at SAHIL at the corner of McRae and Bayview. She and her family had lived in Governor’s Bridge for 37 years, but when her husband was ill, she realized she “didn’t want to be looking after a whole house by myself.” A conversation with one of the board members ended up with Nina moving into SAHIL that fall.
The late Edna Beange, who lived in SAHIL at the time, was a great influence on Nina. Edna made sure that new people to the building were made to feel welcome and included. Nina has taken up that cause, including leading an exercise group that meets regularly.
Exercise is something Nina clearly takes seriously. She exercises at home every morning, goes to aquafit three times a week, and gets in her 10,000 steps a day. For her 90th birthday, she and her family did the Edge Walk at the CN Tower. All this with an artificial hip and two replaced knees!
