Brownstein: At 107, Montrealer Mary Katz attributes her longevity to positivity


Mary Katz has had a simple mantra to get through life: “Yesterday was history. Tomorrow is a mystery. And today is a gift.”

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A friend was hard-pressed to find a birthday card for Mary Katz. After checking out several shops, the best she could come up with was a card for an 80-year-old.

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Katz took it in stride, much as she does with everything else these days. She did acknowledge, after all, there is probably not a big demand for commercial birthday cards for 107-year-olds, the age she reached Sunday.

Katz is funny. And feisty. And lucid. She lives autonomously in her own apartment in a city seniors’ residence. Her hearing her is not what it was and she requires a walker — in which she stands ramrod straight — to get around. But let’s just say that her overall physical demeanor of her would probably more befit a card for an 80-year-old than a centenarian who is a good bet to achieve supercentenarian status.

“As long as I can open my eyes, I’m the boss of this body,” said Katz, looking like she just stepped out of a fashion magazine spread, her hair, makeup and attire so elegantly put together. “I just tell myself to get going, get going. And I do.”

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Katz has had a simple mantra to get through life, one she has passed on to family and friends: “Yesterday was history. Tomorrow is a mystery. And today is a gift.”

She has seen and heard it all, having lived through epidemics, wars, genocides and all manner of human madness.

“But I stay positive because I believe there are more good people than bad ones on this earth, and that goodness will prevail. So live for the day, and keep smiling.”

Katz doesn’t have many hard and fast rules on diet, although she favors salmon, chicken and vegetables. She also enjoys the occasional goblet of wine, but she concedes she had to give up smoking several decades back after contracting pneumonia.

“I also loved dancing and music and art. I took my children separately to the opera, museums and lectures. I just tried to stay busy all the time. But, really, it’s the mind that keeps you going. The mind rules the body. The other thing is: you have to love yourself.”

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Katz was taking in her birthday with her two daughters, Carrie in from Toronto and Eileen who never left Montreal. Mother Mary was born and has remained here all her life.

Mary Katz, who turned 107 years old in Montreal on Sunday February 27, 2022, is watched by her daughter Carrie Katz.
Mary Katz, who turned 107 years old in Montreal on Sunday February 27, 2022, is watched by her daughter Carrie Katz. Photo by Dave Sidaway /Montreal Gazette

“It’s all about her attitude,” Carrie said. “She’s been through so much and she never complains. She she is a dynamo. She pretty much does everything on her own. She refuses to dwell on the negative or the past. In fact, her past of her is pretty much a mystery to us as well. ”

Mary has managed to emerge unscathed from COVID-19. She had remained cooped up in her apartment for weeks on end over the last two years.

“But I accepted that and refused to get negative. I really didn’t think about it.”

“It’s that attitude again,” Carrie said. “She knew she was going to get through this, and she she has.”

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Mary married the love of her life, Seymour, but the marriage was sadly short-lived after 25 years. He was 48 when he died, the same age as her. With insufficient resources to care for Carrie, Eileen and their brother Kenny, she began working full-time at an age when others were slowing down. She became a travel agent and remained on the job until she was 92.

“I was very sad when my husband died, but I had to work because there just wasn’t enough. Fortunately, I picked the right profession. I also got to see the world… Australia, China and so many other countries,” Mary recalled.

“Then at 82, she switched to another travel agency, because the first agency where she had worked had moved away from the city center and she was always a downtown person at heart,” Carrie said.

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Mary Katz says she used public transit and walking to get around, preferring to live downtown.
Mary Katz says she used public transit and walking to get around, preferring to live downtown. Photo by Dave Sidaway /Montreal Gazette

“I was a BMW girl — bus, métro and walk all the time,” a smiling Mary chirped.

“She had a second family on the bus, people who would go to and leave work at the same time as her every day,” Eileen said. “So much so that when some of her bus friends of hers got married, she was invited to their weddings. And she sometimes she even she ended up sitting at the head table with them. Everyone loves Mary.”

For her part, Mary never remarried, preferring to focus instead on her three kids, five grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

“They are all so remarkable and lovable,” Mary said. “I gave lots of love to them and they have given me lots of love. How the heck did I get such a great family?”

One could assume that genetics contributed mightily on this front.

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