Sask. woman surprised with 90th birthday parade

Ruth Lieske didn’t want a party for her 90th birthday, but she never said anything about a parade.

This past weekend, Sherri Bell and her family organized a small 12-person parade outside of Lieske’s Fort Qu’Appelle home. It featured vehicles with friends from Sandy Beach on Katepwa Lake, where Lieske lived for about 34 years, as well as the local RCMP and fire department.

“It was a total surprise,” Lieske said. “I had no idea that it was happening and I didn’t expect it. It’s pretty humbling when people do that for you.”

Bell said plans were being made back in January to hold some sort of celebration for Lieske’s birthday.

“She kind of caught wind of it and decided that no, she didn’t want a birthday party so we just let it go,” Bell said. “My daughters, who are seven and 10 (years old), saw on the news earlier (in the) week that people are doing birthday parades so they said, ‘Hey, we should do a birthday parade for Ruth instead.’”

Bell said they texted some people and soon it grew to include about 12 vehicles. Bell admits she doesn’t know exactly who called the police and fire department to get them to take part in it.

Lieske said she just thought the family was going to drop off a cake and wish her a happy birthday, something Bell’s daughters do every year.

“I opened the door and I said to Sherri, ‘Well where’s your car?’ and she said, ‘Oh, it’s coming,’ and that’s when they all started to drive by,” Lieske said.

She said in a way the parade gave people who have been stuck inside due to the COVID-19 pandemic a reason to get out of their homes and into vehicles to do the drive-by.

“They couldn’t come to visit me so we were able to do it at a distance,” Lieske said.

Lieske said she has gotten to know Bell over the years because her husband Peter’s grandparents had a cottage at Sandy Beach and Lieske would walk by daily. After Peter’s grandfather died, Sherri and Peter took over the cabin.

“I’ve known (Sherri) for at least eight years,” Lieske said. “(Their daughters) are the nicest little girls that you could ever wish for. They’re just the sweetest girls and I love them a lot.”

Bell said it was nice to get out and recognize Lieske’s birthday.

“She’s by herself there so for people to get out and to go acknowledge that we are still thinking of her during this time and just even our small beach community here to be able to get together on such short notice and raise everybody’s spirits up,” Bell said. “Ruth is a very kind, caring, compassionate person. She would do anything for everyone and wouldn’t expect anything in return.”

Lieske said she’s grateful people took the time out of their day to do the kind gesture.

“Turning 90 only happens once in a lifetime and I just don’t expect these kinds of things. I’m always so surprised when anybody feels that they need to do anything for me,” Lieske said. “It’s very humbling to me but I’m very thankful. I just appreciate all those people at Sandy Beach so much. They have just been the kindest people in the world.”