Alice Bicknell

Alice Bicknell

Alice Bicknell at the age of 110.

Unvalidated

Alice May Bicknell (née Highfield) (born 12 May 1907) is a British-Canadian supercentenarian whose age is currently unvalidated by the Gerontology Research Group (GRG). She is one of the ten oldest known people in Canada.

Biography

Alice Bicknell was born Alice Highfield on 12 May 1907 in Wolverhampton, England. She remembers seeing zeppelins flying over her town just outside of Birmingham during World War 1. She married Bill Bicknell and had a daughter, Christine, with him.

During World War 2, the town of Wolverhampton built a bomb shelter in her backyard, of brick, with a rebar and cement roof, but they never used it. When the war was over, they used it to store coal. Bill was a fireman during the war, and was often called away to places like London, Coventry and Birmingham. After the war, he went back to his previous job as a construction worker.

Alice and her family emigrated to Canada by boat in 1953, after receiving a letter from friends Les and Elsie Martin, who had just moved to Toronto, and were loving it there. Their other reasons for moving were that they were still on rations in England and the job prospects for Bill weren’t good. Bill found a job in St. Catharines, Ontario three weeks after their arrival in Quebec City.

Bill and Alice built a house in Jordan, Ontario and lived there until they moved to Sault Ste. Marie. Several years later, Bill Bicknell developed stomach cancer and was taken back to England and died there, as per his wishes. After his death, Alice returned to St. Catharines to be with her daughter Christine Hodgkins and four grandsons. Alice's birthday and Mother's Day are usually celebrated alongside in her family.

Alice Bicknell currently lives in Grimsby, Ontario, Canada, at the age of 116 years, 342 days.

References

• Grimsby woman celebrates 110th birthday Niagara This Week