A man on Newfoundland's Northern Peninsula is celebrating a rare milestone that he credits to clean living and respecting his mother and father.
"All is know is I was obedient to my parents, and there's a long life offered for that," said George Ellsworth. He celebrated his 104th birthday Thursday in the Northern Peninsula community of Englee, where he was born.
Amazingly, two of his brothers are also centenarians.
Brother Jim Ellsworth, 102, now lives in Mount Pearl, near St. John's, and their younger brother, Pat Ellsworth, 100, lives at a nursing home in St. Anthony, on the Northern Peninsula.
The family of ten brothers and sisters also includes a 94-year-old sister, Victoria, who lives in the Central Newfoundland community of Lewisporte.
George Ellsworth has poor hearing, takes medication for an enlarged heart and needs a walker to get around but until he moved in with his daughter a few years ago, he lived on his own in the house he built, and grew his own food.
Ellsworth, a deeply religious man, said he keeps his mind active with word search puzzles.
George Ellsworth's daughter, Dorothy Breen said the key to the family's longevity may have something to do with their calm temperament and positive outlook.
"I never ever saw my dad drink, smoke, and I've never heard him raise his voice and he's not a person to worry. I guess that made a big difference too," said Breen, who lives with her father in Englee.
Breen describes her father as a "strong man" who worked as a fisherman and a camp cook with wood cutting crews.
She said he loved his jobs.
The downside to longevity, Breen said, is that her father doesn't receive many visitors, because he has outlived all his friends.
The siblings haven't seen each other in a few years either, but they still remember each other fondly.
"I love my brother," Pat told CBC News over the phone.
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