Gordon Little’s 100th birthday party celebrates a life of adventure
By MATTHEW STEPHENS
Taking his 100th trip around the sun, local Beach resident Gordon Little celebrated his birthday in style on Friday, March 21, at Retirement Suites by the Lake on Kingston Road in southwest Scarborough.
The festive celebration highlighted Little’s adventurous life.
“I’m living as long as you can get. It’s my hundredth birthday today, and it can’t get any better than that,” said Little, who has lived in East Toronto since 2023.
Friends and family gathered to celebrate his 100th birthday with a live performance from the band Side by Side, followed by food and drink, and the presentation of a certificate signed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Born in Hove, England in 1925, Little left school at the age of 16 to work as a junior aeronautical draftsman during the Second World War. Working for various companies in the aeronautical field at an early age propelled his career further during the war, where he went on to study at Imperial College in London to become certified as an aeronautical engineer.
In 1952, Little married his wife Audrey and they emigrated to Montreal the following year, where he found a job working for Canadair Ltd., a Canadian civil and military aircraft manufacturer that operated from 1944 to 1986.
Following the move to Canada, Little and his wife embraced their new life in the country with open arms. They learned to ski during the winters, built a cottage in the Laurentians, camped, and explored the country to its fullest extent.
In the years that followed, Little and his wife had three sons – which later evolved into seven grandchildren, and to date, two great-grandsons.
After living most of his life in Montreal, Little sustained a hip injury in 2023 and moved to Toronto to be closer to his family.
Little’s life has been one filled with adventure. Known for their intrepid endeavours, Little and his wife loved to explore Canada; from travelling up the west coast by ferry and back through the Yukon and Alberta by bus, to camping in the Rockies, skiing and camping in Ontario, travelling along the North Shore of Quebec, camping in PEI, hitchhiking in Newfoundland, and taking their grandchildren on several trips to the high Arctic – the family never shied away from an exhilarating adventure. For Little, the country always had something new for him to explore and appreciate.
“Generally, everything was based around adventure of some sort. We were always going skiing somewhere. We’ve been camping, we went sailing, we would go down to Cape Cod with a small sailboat, we would go to Prince Edward Island and put the small boat on the beach and go camp and go sailing there. It’s always been about getting out there and doing things in the outdoors,” Little’s eldest son Roy told Beach Metro Community News.
Aside from travelling in Canada, Little loved to spend his free time cycling whenever he could – opting for a bicycle as his means to commute to work between the 60s and 70s.
He frequently participated in the Tour de l’île, a 50-kilometre bicycle event riding around the island of Montreal. Impressively, he completed his last cycling tour at the age of 94.
Roy shared that his father’s secret to longevity is to practice an active lifestyle, no matter how old you are.
“Stay moving, always keep moving and always keep doing things. He was riding his bike 50 kilometres at the age of 94,” said Roy.
When asked for advice for younger generations to come, Little emphasized the importance of a good education. “Go to school. I very much believe in school. I was on school boards, and I believe in education, and lots of it,” said Little.
- Matthew Stephens is a junior reporter interning at Beach Metro Community News, covering local stories and community events.
