Margaret Romans of Latvia/Canada, 113th birthday
The Gerontology Research Group is delighted to report that Mrs. Margaret Romans of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, native of Latvia, celebrated her 113th birthday. Mrs. Romans was born in Riga, Latvia (then part of Russian Empire) on March 16, 1912. Her age was meticulously examined and verified by Dr. Wacław Jan Kroczek, Juris Terauds, Oliver Trim, and Dr. Kristīne Jarinovska, and validated by the Gerontology Research Group (GRG) on 28 September 2024.
Margaret Romans was born in Riga, then part of the Russian Empire, present-day Latvia on 16 March 1912. She attended a post-secondary institution in Latvia where she learned to paint and create ceramics.
Romans could recollect the bombs dropping at the start of World War II. In 1941, she married Heinrich (Henry) Romans, having a small wedding due to the war and Latvia’s occupation by the Soviet Union. They did not have any children.
Shortly after their wedding, the couple were forced to flee from Latvia. They lived in Germany for a few years before emigrating to Canada in 1947. Romans claimed that Canada’s landscape was similar to that of Latvia’s.
Romans worked as an art teacher at the YMCA, while her husband was employed as an engineer. She kept in touch with her former students throughout her life, as well as teaching multiple generations of the same families. She enjoyed traveling, visiting places such as Berlin and Paris.
Romans was widowed in 2002, and lived independently in Westmount, Quebec until the age of 107, when she moved into the Château Pierrefonds nursing home in Montreal’s West Island, where her room is decorated with her own artwork.
As of her 112th birthday in 2024, Romans can still walk with assistance and keeps up with current events.
On 8 April 2024, following the death of 112-year-old Annette Sabourin Brunet, Romans became the oldest person in Quebec.
On 3 January 2025, following the death of 112-year-old Hazel Skuce, Romans became the oldest known living person in Canada.
Margaret Romans currently lives in Sainte-Genevieve, Montreal, Quebec, Canada