Local woman has survived two pandemics
By Diana Daghofer
Born during the Spanish flu, Molly Pacey has lived to experience a second pandemic this year. Molly turns 102 years old on Wednesday, December 30, 2020. She takes this sort of trial in stride, though, possibly due to her stormy entry to this world.
Molly was born at the height of the Spanish Flu, in 1918, at Victoria Private Hospital in Victoria. Her mother actually had the Spanish flu at the time of Molly’s birth. They went together from the hospital to a sanitorium where her mom, Mary Kennedy, recovered. Her dad, meantime, was out on the ocean in a raging snowstorm during Molly’s birth, trying to gather in logs that had broken free from their boom. Molly’s dad worked at his own logging company at the time.
Having grown up and lived most of her life in Victoria and Vancouver, Molly has been a resident of Castle Wood Village in Castlegar for almost 11 years. It will be a quiet birthday celebration for Molly, with a distanced visit from her son, Don, of Rossland, to mark the occasion. Molly’s other son lives in the Okanagan.
Molly has seen innumerable changes in her lifetime. “I remember listening to the very first radio in Victoria when I was 8 or 9 years old and changing over from an ice box to a refrigerator. I used to follow the bread man’s horse and wagon when he came around our neighbourhood.”
Molly has stayed well, if somewhat lonely, throughout the current pandemic. She passes her time reading, playing cards and watching TV. British period pieces like Downton Abbey are among her favourites!
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