104-year-old Yukon woman looks back on life and love in wartime

Looking back on her long life, Wanita Johnson is sure of this: kindness is key.

"That goes without saying," Johnson said from her home at the Whistle Bend Place continuing care facility in Whitehorse, where this weekend she's celebrating her 104th birthday. 

Johnson came of age during the Second World War. It was a time that changed the course of her life, she says.

"It had a lot to do with where you end up and what you end up doing and who you meet," she said. 

Over her many decades and through numerous adversities, Johnson has learned to adapt to change. 

Johnson's only daughter, Linda Johnson, says she's grateful to still have her mother in good health, and to learn from her experiences — particularly in navigating difficulty. 

"How our earlier generations managed to get through hard times, because we're going through tough times now, and scary times — and they've already done that," said Linda.

"So when I talk to her she gives me that sense that, you know, it's like the Queen and her family always said, you have to 'keep calm and carry on,' and then things will get better. And we do need to look to the future with positive hope." 

Wanita was born in Taymouth, N.B., just after the First World War. Her mother died young and Wanita grew up between family in Ontario and the Maritimes. 

When she finished high school with typing and bookkeeping skills, she quickly landed a job in Ottawa working for the federal government. That was 1939, on the brink of another world war, and a time when many young women were entering the workforce. 

These days, Wanita is moving a bit slower and she sometimes relies on Linda to remember specific details. But looking through a pile of old photos, it's clear that Wanita's memory is still sharp.

"That's Louise, and that's Gladys and that's a friend — I can never remember her name half the time — her last name was Devlin," she said, pointing to friends from those early years in Ottawa.

Wanita says together they had a lot of fun in those days, with picnics, skiing, and dancing — but there was a serious side to it all.   

"Pretty hectic," she remembers, "we had to work long hours."

One of her primary assignments during the war was to process paychecks for soldiers, or their widows. Stumbling on familiar names was not uncommon, a sad reminder that some friends' loved ones wouldn't be returning home. 

Wanita however, was lucky in that respect. She had met her young man, Charlie, in Ottawa before he had shipped out as a radio signaller. They kept in touch and wrote letters while he was overseas and when Charlie did return home — after being part of the D-Day invasion — they married and had Linda. 

Like many other young women at the time, Wanita then had to leave the workforce. 

Soon enough though, the government came calling again, and when the Korean War began Wanita returned to the civil service, this time to stay. Linda was enrolled in one of Ottawa's first daycares.

The legacy of war, however, continued to affect their lives. Charlie died in 1979 and Linda maintains that her father, and many of his peers, died younger than they should have because of their wartime experiences. 

"His health was certainly very much affected. He died of Lou Gehrig's disease, probably from sitting in the little radio shacks for years on end, transmitting radio telegraph signals and sleeping on the ground, being rained on, being cold, food not being good — who knows what," said Linda. 

Wanita and many of her contemporaries were widowed in their 60s. In Ottawa, she maintained a tight-knit community of friends, many of them women who'd lived similar experiences.

"War really means a shortening of opportunity for the men, and for the women, they stuck together…when they were widowed they carried on and supported their communities, kept busy," said Linda.

"They didn't sit back and cry a lot of tears — they went out and lived life."  

Wanita stayed on in Ottawa until a few years ago, when she moved to the Yukon. Linda had raised her own family in Whitehorse, and so Wanita came to be near them. 

Even at 104, Wanita continues to live life to the fullest. She can still play three bingo cards at once.

The family planned a birthday party for her on Saturday.   

"Then on the Monday we'll go to the Remembrance [Day]  ceremony and remember Dad," said Linda.