Eliesabeth Richter cites spinsterhood and no children as recipe for a long life

The beautiful lawns of Ronnenberg in Germany are one of Eliesabeth Richter’s fondest memories.

Which isn’t surprising, really, for a woman who spent many years working as a gardener and caretaker in Lake of Bays.

According to Richter her home in Ronnenberg was close to Berlin. “We could drive to Berlin easily in the buggy. My father didn’t let us drive a car; we were too young. But we’d talk to the horse. We’d say, ‘Go home’ and he’d take us there. He knew he’d get oats.”

Richter calls Fairvern Nursing Home ‘home’ these days. It is where she has lived since March 7, 2001.

Last week, so many of her friends and family crowded onto Fairvern’s second floor to celebrate her 100th birthday that everyone had to move downstairs to the activity centre.

Richter loved every minute of her party, from chatting with the assembled company to cutting the huge birthday cake baked in her honour. Shown a balloon that read 100, she remarked: “I didn’t know I was that old.”

Richter was born in Germany in 1907. She recalls a home shared with her brothers and sisters which was full of love and music.

“It was beautiful music. I loved it. My five brothers had violins and they were always playing. Always. From morning to night and even sometimes night until morning,” she laughed.

“My mother loved the music, my father too, but sometimes he wanted to sleep.”

Sadly, Richter’s mother died of influenza when the child was very young and her older sister helped care for her after that. Meanwhile, her father and brothers relocated to Canada.

By the age of 13, Richter was living on a farm in Saskatchewan. She attended school and spent many happy hours riding the horses on the farm.

At the age of 19, Richter returned to Germany. “I wanted to see the rest of my family and then I got stuck in the war. By the time it was over, only half of my family was left,” she said.

She added: “Berlin during the war wasn’t nice. We didn’t have much to eat and I’d always be hungry. I was glad to get out and get back to Canada.”

After the war, Richter lived with one of her brothers in Toronto, eventually making her way to Muskoka. She found a nursemaid position for a family on Paint Lake in Dorset and there made her home.

She also worked as a gardener and caretaker in Lake of Bays and rode a bicycle from Paint Lake to her place of work for many years. Eventually her employer supplied her with a car and she finally got her driver’s licence at the age of 55.

A great lover of the outdoors, Richter had beautiful rose gardens at her home. She also enjoyed her rowboat in summer and hunted partridge and rabbit in Dorset in the fall. She spent many hours skating on the lake during the winter months, and in any season could be found walking and communing with nature.

Asked to what she credits her longevity, Richter replied: “No husband and no kids. It’s made for a damn good long life.”

Said Det Schumacher, whose wife is Richter’s great, great-niece: “Aunt Betty always referred to herself as unclaimed treasure.”

Still able to converse in four languages – Italian, German, French and English – Richter lives a quiet life these days. She still loves to sing and joins in with the music sessions at Fairvern. She enjoys reading, particularly western novels.

Looking back on her life, Richter said she grew up to be strong. “I had good parents. After my mother died, my father stayed at home in the evenings. He didn’t want us to be alone.”