Few people get to live a century, but fewer hit the aging jackpot like Mary Cannon has: sharp minded, tech savvy, no need for glasses and a complete set of natural teeth.
These are just some of the qualities that make her the most pursued lady at Regency Assisted Living in Oak Harbor, the retirement home where she’s been residing for over two years. Upon meeting her, one can’t help but wonder if the rosé wine she drinks each night before she goes to bed is actually the product of witchcraft.
Magic or not, Regency’s oldest living resident is welcoming community members to celebrate her 100th birthday party at 2 p.m. at the Coupeville Rec Hall on Sunday, July 30.
Unless you’re the Social Security Administration, it’s hard not to like Mary Cannon, whose humorous and lively personality makes her a natural scene-stealer — and has likely helped her live through 17 presidents.
The Virginia native believes she was born that way. As a child, she was a regular at the principal’s office. Her wicked crime: making funny faces behind the classroom door’s window.
“I wasn’t nice,” she confessed with a guilty expression on her face. “I’m still not nice. But it’s made me live to be 100 years old!”
Decades later, she’s still not the type to take herself too seriously, enhancing her stories with grimaces and dramatic imitations.
“I’m the town jolly idiot, and I love it,” she said, boob magnets displayed on her refrigerator — an amusing Christmas gift from her grandchild.
Though her family doesn’t have a history of members living to 100, she did inherit her personality from her mom’s side. After almost a century, she still remembers how her grandfather would drop his dentures to prank her, cracking up as she would run away terrified.
“Grandpa was a big joker,” she said. “I didn’t fall far from the tree.”
Teresita Mendiola, the director of community relations at Regency, said she’s rarely seen people live into the triple digits without losing enthusiasm for life.
“She’s a wonderful lady and has a different sense of humor,” she said.
Another likely ingredient in Mary Cannon’s impressively long life is her optimism, which helped her through otherwise tough and uncertain times, even when her husband, Floyd Cannon, was fighting in World War II as a member of the Marine Corps.
“That’s why I’ve lived so long, I don’t worry,” she said. “I’ll just make a joke about it and let it go.”
Though her partner was risking his life overseas, she remained optimistic.
“He was a smart guy, he knew how to take care of himself,” she said. “I didn’t really worry about it.”
Mary Cannon is very grateful to her mother, Marguerite, who took great care of her daughter when, at the age of four, she developed osteomyelitis in her left hip.
Osteomyelitis is a bacterial infection of the bone. It was 1927, and penicillin had yet to be discovered. As a testament to the dramatic changes humanity has gone through since she was born, people today can successfully recover from the disease, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Although doctors believed she wouldn’t make it, Mary Cannon’s mother never gave up on her daughter, who — spoiler alert — definitely did not die.
“If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t be here,” Mary Cannon said, remembering vividly how she would only find comfort in holding her mother’s hand through her crib’s bars as they fell asleep.
Years went by, and when she became a young woman, Mary Cannon joined the Marine Corps where she met her husband, who had survived the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. It was thanks to a friend’s insistence that the two met in late May 1944, first talking to each other over the phone.
In September, they were married.
“I was old enough to know better,” she said, who at the time was 21. “But I couldn’t have got anybody better. He was a nice fellow.”
Though she met her husband over the phone, she can’t give dating advice that she finds useful in the era of dating apps and casual relationships.
The couple had three children — Mary Elizabeth, Robert and Richard. Mary Cannon was dismissed from the Marine Corps when she first got pregnant, an event she always found amusing.
Finally, after a lifetime of moving around the country, Mary and Floyd Cannon moved to Whidbey Island in 1991. Unfortunately, her husband passed away shortly after, in 1992. Despite losing her beloved partner, she never lost her outgoing personality and love for life, keeping herself physically and socially active.
While she has fun playing along with joking love declarations from Regency’s staff, Mary Cannon has never been interested in finding another partner, as she is perfectly happy with her newfound independence and the life she shared with Floyd — whose flag she proudly displays in her room.
She keeps in touch with her 95-year-old sister, three children, nine grandchildren and seven great grandchildren through FaceTime and Facebook, which she uses independently on her tablet.
“She’s always been the glue of our family,” said her granddaughter, Morgan White, to whom Mary has not only been a source of support who helped raise her, but also a friend.
Mary Cannon looks forward to celebrating her birthday with family and friends and is excited to meet new people at the party — and enjoy a little newspaper fame.
A previous version of this article stated that Mary’s birthday party would take place on Monday, July 31. It is actually scheduled for Sunday, July 30 at 2 p.m.. We regret the error.