| Ismay Ann Cruickshank | |
[[File: Ismay with her children and children-in-law.  Ismay with her parents and siblings.  Reuinion of her and her relatives near 100th birthday.  Gravestone of her and her husband, James Cruickshank. | |
| Birth: | 25 July 1886 Clavering, Grey, Ontario, Canada |
| Death: | 22 July 1996 Owen Sound, Grey, Ontario, Canada |
| Age: | 109 years, 363 days |
| Country: |  CAN
|
| Centenarian | |
Ismay Ann Cruickshank (née Gray; 25 July 1886 – 22 July 1996) was a Canadian centenarian.
Biography[]
Ismay Ann Cruickshank was born as Ismay Ann Gray to her parents William Gray and Agnes Pringle in Clavering, Grey, Ontario, Canada on 25 July 1886 as a methodist. She was the firstborn child of her other siblings. She moved to Owen Sound shortly after. She became a farmer before 1901. She attended Owen Sound Buissness College in 1904 or 1905. And then married James Cruickshank (1913–1962, gravestone claims 1932, or possibly the gravestone was just scratched.) on 9 March 1910 in Park Head, Bruce, Ontario, Canada. They had four kids; Melville, Floyd, Dorothy, and Audrey. She lived out the rest of her life there, until, Ismay Ann Cruickshank died from possible heart trouble at Grey Bruce Regional Health Centre in Owen Sound, Grey, Ontario, Canada of possible heart trouble on 22 July 1996 at the age of 109 years, 362 days (View the evidence that is collected in section 3 about her, which previously wasn't.)
A Newspaper Article about her[]
"An Owen Sound woman who was older than the city she lived in died Monday at the age of 109. Ismay Ann Cruickshank may have been Canada's oldest citizen.
Mrs. Cruickshank died at Grey Bruce Regional Health Centre following possible heart trouble, her grandson Tom McKay said Tuesday night. She had outlived her husband, her four children, her brothers and sisters and all her friends.
Interviewed last September, she remarked on her longevity. "And here I am 109, I don't really understand it, I just keep on going."
Mrs. Cruickshank moved into Second Avenue Lodge at age 97, after a dizzy spell while cleaning her windows convinced her she shouldn't live by herself anymore.
"Well at 97 cleaning her own windows, that'll tell you what sort of person," chuckled Patrick Timmons, the retirement home administrator. "Remarkable person. When you look at her age and her outlook on life, and everything in general, it was just unbelievable," said Timmons, who had grown very fond of his eldest resident. "This person was as sharp as a button to the end."
She was a member of Knox United Church for 86 years, and her Christian work ethic and sense of fair play was a significant side to her character, grandson Tom said. Mrs. Cruickshank leaves six grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren.
She once remarked to Tom that she was born in an era when people walked everywhere and then lived to see space travel. She was born July 25, 1886 in nearby Clavering. After perhaps three years she moved to Park Head, near Hepworth. Her father, William Gray, worked for the railway, ran a sawmill and a general store. Her first trip to Owen Sound was in 1898 when she was 12.
She attended Owen Sound Northern Business College and worked as a bookkeeper until she married James Cruickshank, a millwright, in 1909. Her father-in-law was a builder and the newly married couple moved into the house he constructed for them on 14th Street W. A year later they moved next door and Cruickshank lived there for more than 70 years. Her husband died in 1962.
There will be no funeral service, in keeping with Mrs. Cruickshank's wishes, but a memorial is being planned at her grave site in Greenwood Cemetery on her birthday, next July 25, her grandson said." – Scott Dunn, July 22-25 1996 (based off of info from this article.)
Finally finding her death date[]
Since no one has contacted the cemetery to see what date Ismay was buried or died, here's info from data from the article to finally find out when, as for years, it has just been "1996".
On her findagrave.com profile, it states she died in 1996. No more specific then that. On the article, well, it's a different story.
The article gives us the clues that she was being buried July 25. Quote: "There will be no funeral service, in keeping with Mrs. Cruickshank's wishes, but a memorial is being planned at her grave site in Greenwood Cemetery on her birthday, next 25 July, her grandson said."
And the other clue it says is that she died "monday". Quote: "An Owen Sound woman who was older than the city she lived in died Monday at the age of 109." The final monday before July 25 that time was July 22. Thus that gives us our answer. She passed away on July 22, 1996, which was three days before her 110th birthday.
References[]
- Ismay Ann Gray's Profile FamilySearch
- Ismay Ann Gray's 1901 Canada Census FamilySearch
- Ismay Ann Gray's 1911 Canada Census FamilySearch
- Post about Ismay on The 110 Club The 110 Club
- Ismay Ann Gray's Profile WikiTree
- Ismay Ann Gray Cruickshank Find A Grave