“Welcome to the club,” Clarence Boudreau, 92, said in an early-morning phone call to his old pal, Allan Thorp, on his 90th birthday earlier this week.
“Is there an admission charge or anything?” Thorp quipped.
“No, it’s free,” Boudreau laughed.
The day Great-Grandpa turned 90 his newest twin great-grandsons turned six months old.
“It’s so great they are exactly 89 and a half years younger,” Alison Bougie, mom to twin boys Gillis and Levi, said about Thorp’s milestone birthday.
Thorp celebrated his 90th birthday Sept. 15 with some of his family members, including his granddaughter Alison’s family who came from Edmonton to help celebrate after a couple of years’ absence as they tried to keep everyone safe during the pandemic.
Alison is Gordon’s daughter. Gordon is Allan’s son. The Thorps had four children including Candace, Darold, Gordon and Melvin.
Twins haven’t been seen in the Thorp family since Allan’s generation but Alison’s mom’s family has twins in it, too, so perhaps it was inevitable to see another set of twins born into the family.
“This is the first time the twins have met their great-grandparents,” Bougie said. “We’re so glad we were able to make it work. Family is so important and we wanted to show the twins off. Celebrating a 90th birthday is a big deal and we’re so glad we got to be here.”
Alison traveled from
It took a bit to coordinate it all but they wanted to get the visit in before the fourth wave was in full swing, Bougie added.
Candace, the Thorp’s daughter, brought her family from
There was supposed to be a big shindig held in the Thorp’s backyard to celebrate his 90th but all that changed when Covid-19 numbers started to rise in the area.
“We’ve got the family here and that’s very special because we’ve been unable to travel because of the pandemic,” Thorp said. “It’s so nice to be able to see the twins.”
The family will be taking pictures to commemorate the special occasion.
“So it was a rather quiet day but that’s the way it is,” Thorp said.
He’s just happy he’s here to celebrate 90 years of life.
“I made it,” he deadpanned.
That's not too surprising as Thorp's parents lived long, healthy lives and he lost a brother a while back and he was 98 years old.
Thorp offered some advice - he noted he never smoked and only drank socially.
“It’s important that I was married to a good wife for so many years,” Thorp said. “There’s always been lots of friends and family around and that’s very important and also there was always lots of music.”
He’s a member of the local branch of the Old Time Fiddlers, a close-knit community of musicians.
“I don’t know how come I lived this long - I guess I’m just lucky,” Thorp said.
