First Nation veteran prepares to celebrate 100th birthday
By Sam Laskaris
ALDERVILLE FIRST NATION – Though he’s about to become a centenarian, Don Smoke jokes that he continues to seek work.
“I’m stiIl looking for a job,” said Smoke, an Alderville First Nation member who will turn 100 years young on Feb. 24. “But nobody wants to hire me.”
Smoke has actually been retired since February of 1981, following a 30-year career at General Motors.
And he’s the last remaining veteran from his First Nation that served in the Canadian military during World War II.
Smoke’s milestone birthday will be celebrated at the Alderville Community Centre on Feb. 24, from 2-7 p.m.
Personnel from the Canadian Armed Forces base in Trenton will be among those attending the ceremony. A military flyby featuring a Hercules plane is also expected to be part of the festivities.
“It’s pretty exciting,” Smoke said of the anticipated flyover tribute. “And it’s a real milestone in my life.”
Smoke joined the Canadian army when he was 17. He became a gunner and earned a reputation for his proficiency as a long-distance sniper.
Smoke served in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Upon returning home, Smoke worked at various jobs, including at a tannery in Cobourg, where he was also employed before the war.
He also had jobs at an area farm and worked at a garage and lumber company in the village of Baltimore.
Smoke maintains he doesn’t have a secret to his longevity.
“I don’t know what I’ve been doing,” he said. “But I guess I must have been doing the right thing.”
Smoke added he’s been looking forward to his 100th birthday for a couple of decades. He recalled the last major celebration that was held in his honour was during an event staged in Cobourg when he turned 80.
“Some of the people I communicated with, I said to them, I’ll see you back here when I’m 100,” Smoke recalled.
Smoke has been a widower since his wife passed away in 1985. The couple had seven children, four sons and three daughters.
Smoke continues to live in his Alderville First Nation home with two of his sons and a grandson.
One of Smoke’s daughters is Marsha Smoke, the Anishinabek Nation’s Southeast Regional Chief.
“I think he’s very proud of the life that he has built here,” Anishinabek Nation Southeast Regional Chief Smoke said of her father’s Alderville home. “He’s got a few acres of land here. It’s been landscaped in some areas and rough in others. But it’s a beautiful location where family is just drawn to.”
She added that some clean living has undoubtedly contributed to her father’s lengthy life.
“I think 1972 was the last time that he had a tea or coffee,” she said. “And he never drank or smoked anything [since then].”
Anishinabek Nation Southeast Regional Chief Smoke believes it is noteworthy that her father still has his driver’s license.
“Every time he wants to go somewhere, though, someone jumps up and offers to drive him,” she said. “But he can drive around the block. He’ll get in his car and go.”
Smoke also loves watching sports. He’s an avid Toronto Blue Jays fan and also enjoys watching golf and hockey.
“They’re very sports-minded here,” Anishinabek Nation Southeast Regional Chief Smoke said of those in her father’s household. “And I think I got them into curling. That’s the only sport I watch.”
There’s also another television program, The Price Is Right, that is a constant in the Smoke home.
“Come on down,” Smoke said, simulating the signature line from the long-running show.
Anishinabek Nation Southeast Regional Chief Smoke said family members are all cognizant of the importance of the program.
“I think all of his kids and all the grandchildren and great-grandchildren, they all watch The Price Is Right,” she said. “They all know that every day at 11, that’s the priority in this house.”
She added that her father continues to remain relatively healthy.
“He has no real health issues,” she said. “He has regular checkups. Every once in a while, whenever something happens, he has to get it taken care of at the doctor’s. But he doesn’t have any ongoing health issues.”