| Mary Moles | |
 Mary Moles at the age of 109. | |
| Unvalidated |
Mary Ellen Moles (née Chase) (born 15 July 1907) is a Canadian supercentenarian whose age is currently unvalidated by the Gerontology Research Group (GRG). She is one of the top 15 oldest known living people in Canada.
Biography
Mary Moles was born Mary Ellen Chase on 15 July 1907 in what was then Batteaux, Ontario (but is now Clearview, Ontario) to parents Joseph Robinson Chase and an unknown mother. She was the youngest of the couple’s five children. Mary was a tomboy during her childhood, always climbing trees, playing games with the local kids, and wading in the stream.
Mary acquired a teaching degree at Toronto Normal School in 1927. Her first school was in Tiverton, Ontario, though an opportunity back home coincided with her parents’ need for assistance, so Mary returned to Batteaux to continue teaching. She moved schools during the Great Depression, where her pay would be $900 instead of the projected $300 at her previous school.
Whilst working at the school in Clearview, which she went back to after the Great Depression, Mary met her future husband, Ross Moles, and married him in 1941. Mary and Ross had two children, Ellen and Lenore. In 1943, Mary temporarily retired from teaching after 16 years to focus on raising her daughters.
Following the death of Mary’s parents, the couple built a house in Clearview, and Mary resumed teaching in 1952. She taught for another 16 years at two different schools before she retired permanently in 1968, aged 61. She tried supply teaching for a while, but it did not feel right for her.
Ross Moles passed away in 1980 after 39 years of marriage. Mary lived alone until 1987, when she was 80, when she moved in with her daughter Ellen and son-in-law Norm Klinck. In 2003, they moved back into Mary’s old home, where they’ve lived ever since.
In December 2015, aged 108, Mary had a fall but made a full recovery by her 109th birthday. She celebrated her 109th and 110th birthdays with small family parties.
Mary Moles currently lives in Clearview, Ontario, Canada, at the age of 116 years, 278 days.
References
- Nottawa woman celebrates 109th birthday Simcoe
- 110th Birthday Post Facebook