Margaret Carkner, née Hargrove, will celebrate her 100th birthday next weekend.

"It's the start of a whole new century," she said.

The White Rock senior still lives on her own, and although she has help with housework and meals, she said she can still cook, "if I had to."

When asked if she was excited about her upcoming special day, she said, "Not terribly."

"Everybody else seems to be but I'm not especially."

A lot of things have changed during Carkner's life.

"For one thing we didn't have TV," she said. "I was almost 20 before we even had a radio."

Her early years were spent on Partridge Island, in the Maritimes. The tiny island had a lighthouse and served as a quarantine station in its early history. Carkner said her school classes varied in size between three and six kids. In Grade 8 though, her family moved to the mainland and she ended up in a split class with 42 students in it, making for a huge adjustment for her and her brother, who was in the same class.

The family moved again, this time to Richmond, after Carkner's first year of high school.

The years of the Depression were tough ones, she said. At that time, church choirs were a really popular pastime for younger people, mainly because there wasn't much else to do that didn't cost a lot of money.

She sang with the Messiah Choir for its first three years, when the group's numbers were up to about 500 singers at one point.

"Everybody had to make their own fun," she said.

When asked to what she could attribute her longevity, Carkner, paused thoughtfully.

"I don't know if there is any special reason," she said.

"I was never one to adopt fads," she added.

She worked hard - and did hard work such as tending a large garden, housework, raising her two children and occasionally working jobs such as in a cannery. She also never smoked.

Carkner said she was never athletic, but she did enjoy badminton and golf.

She and her husband, Ernie, took up golf at one point. Actually, she said they "both went nuts over golf."

They travelled to Scotland one fall to play the old St. Andrew course. She laughed at the memory, and that the Scots seemed quite impressed at them, out golfing in the cold, pouring rain every day.

At age 80, Carkner and her daughter took a cruise to Alaska. Never one to shy away from adventure, she then went river rafting while up there.

These days though, she said she spends her days watching TV and reading novels, particularly mysteries. She keeps busy with puzzles, which help to keep her mind sharp.

Carkner's centennial is on Saturday, March 16, which will be marked by a private birthday party with friends and family.