100×2= Party!

By Lethbridge Herald on September 10, 2025.

Centenarian Hazel Dearing plays the keyboards with the band at her own birthday celebration at the Green Acres Foundation Blue Sky Lodge Friday. Dearing and fellow celebrant Norma Firth were both born in September 1925 (five days apart).

Joe Manio
Lethbridge Herald
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

When Norma Firth and Hazel Dearing were born in September 1925, that same year F. Scott Fitzgerald published The Great Gatsby. Canada House – a symbol of Canada’s growing national identity and presence within the British Empire – was opened in London, and in Newfoundland, women over the age of 25 were finally granted the right to vote.

Fast-forward to Sept. 5, 2025, where family, friends and city officials gathered at the Green Acres Foundation’s Blue Sky Lodge to celebrate their 100th birthdays. Firth was born first on Sept. 1 and Dearing on Sept. 6. Even before the party officially began, Dearing joined the band, playing the keyboard for a set.

“I’ve slowed down,” she said. “I used to be faster when I was younger.” 

One of the songs Dearing played was “The Beer Barrell Polka” (a.k.a. “Roll Out the Barrell”)…not exactly a “slow” song.

“It is a real honour for Green Acres Foundation to be able to celebrate the 100th birthdays of both Hazel and Norma,” said Green Acre Foundation CEO Dawna Coslovi. “Coming to this party today, and being entertained by Hazel playing the piano for her friends and family was certainly exciting.

Among the guests attending was Lethbridge Police Services (LPS) Chief of Police Shahin Mehdizadeh, who has made it one of his duties to publicly acknowledge Lethbridge centenarians on their birthdays since becoming chief in 2020.

“When I first came here and learned that somebody was turning 100, I saw an opportunity to connect with our seniors because it’s a significant accomplishment,” said Mehdizadeh. “I started visiting them to celebrate the occasion with them and their wonderful families. Anytime I know someone is turning 100, I want to be there to celebrate and give them some recognition.” 

At the onset of the celebration, Coslovi presented certificates to both Firth and Dearing on behalf of Prime Minister Mark Carney and MP Rachael Thomas, followed by Mehdizadeh and Mayor Blaine Hyggen.

Both Firth and Dearing were born in the middle of the Roaring 20s, a period of prosperity and cultural dynamism in the 1920s, particularly in the United States and other Western countries, following World War I. The events they’ve lived through and the changes they’ve witnessed are incredible, to say the least.

“I talked to some in the last hundredth birthday party I went to,  and who remember times with horses and carriages up to the cars that we have today,” said Hyggen. “This is history right here. I can sit forever and talk and listen to the stories of those seniors in our community and just hear some amazing things that they’ve seen.” 

When they were in their 20s, Firth and Dearing saw the end of the Second World War in 1945, and the start of the Cold War. In their 30s, they saw the birth of rock and roll, followed by the emergence of the 1960s counterculture during their 40s.

They saw the rise and fall of disco when they were 50-somethings, and the end of the Cold War with the fall of the Berlin War during their 60s; both witnessed the dawning of the new millennium in 2000 and the start of the 21st Century in 2001, when they were in their mid-70s.

Firth has been living with Green Acres since 2018, and has eight children, 15 grandchildren, 25 great-grandchildren and one five-year-old great-great-grandchild. 

Dearing has been with Green Acres since 2006, and continues to actively play the piano and keyboard. She says she has no “secret” to her health and longevity and chalks it up to clean living, good genes and staying active.

“I don’t take any medications, except for some blood thinners,” she said. “The doctors said I don’t need any.”

After cutting her cake and greeting a spontaneous line of well-wishers, she rejoined the band on the piano for the rest of the party.