When he turned 105, Fort Erie, Ont., resident Burdett Sisler told his son Norman that his goal was to live to be 110.
“I was a little skeptical,” Norman said.
But on April 13, Burdett met his goal. Now, the supercentenarian hopes he’ll make it to the year 2030.
“Maybe I can hang in there,” Burdett told CBC Hamilton, chuckling. “It’s something to look forward to.”
Burdett uses a wheelchair and has some difficulty seeing and hearing, but “he makes it work” and is otherwise healthy for his age, so there’s “no reason why he couldn’t live to 2030,” Norman said.
The Sisler family says as far as they can tell from their research, Burdett is Canada’s oldest living man — a record Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) noted in a Facebook post wishing him a happy birthday.
Burdett worked for the agency after the war as an appraiser at the Peace Bridge port of entry in Fort Erie from 1949 to 1979.
He was born in Akron, Ohio, in 1915. His family moved to Toronto in 1918 to open a tire factory, where Burdett eventually worked.
Burdett was married in 1939, just days after Britain declared war on Germany. He enlisted and travelled to Nova Scotia for training then.
“He never got overseas or there’s a good chance I wouldn’t be here,” Norman said. Burdett worked for the military after the war before starting his customs job.
His wife died 40 years ago and he retired 45 years ago, but Burdett stayed active and engaged in his retirement by following the news, calling bingo and working with adult literacy groups, Norman said. Burdett also drove until he turned 100.
“To quote my wife, ‘He keeps us young,'” said Norman, 75.
The family helped him live in his own home until about three years ago, taking shifts during the first few years of the pandemic to ensure he had support.
Burdett has five children, 11 grandchildren, 22 great-grandchildren and 14 great-great-grandchildren, by the family’s count. He’s seen two world wars, two pandemics and two solar eclipses.
Due to worsening eyesight, Burdett said he doesn’t read as much as he used to, but still enjoys reading magazines to “keep up with the world” — something he recommends everyone do, even though that can be a “gruesome” task these days since “a lot of stuff going on shouldn’t be going on.”
Over his life, the world has “changed beyond recognition,” Burdett said.
“It was a sensible place to be at one time. When I look at the news and the weather, everything seems to be out of line. Nobody seems to think about the other person. He only thinks about himself and how much money he can grab.”
Burdett said that as far as he’s concerned, “everything everyone does matters” and you should treat people the way you’d like to be treated.
Norman said it’s the advice his dad always gave when he was growing up — as well as always finishing the food on his plate, something Burdett does to this day.
On April 11, about 250 people gathered at the Fort Erie Legion for a birthday party for Burdett. Among them were about 60 family members and politicians including Fort Erie Mayor Wayne Redekop, Ontario Minister for Seniors and Accessibility Raymond Cho and MPP Wayne Gates.
Norman said an honour guard played bagpipes as he and Burdett came in. Later, guests sang Happy Birthday and Burdett blew out the candles on a cake.
“I never thought I’d see such a large crowd to see one person,” Burdett said. “It was awesome.”
