Honourable senators, it is an honour to rise today to offer my warm congratulations to Mr. Edwin Kroeker on the celebration of his 100th birthday almost two weeks ago.

Edwin Kroeker was born on June 7, 1920, in the small village of Linden, Manitoba, which is three miles west of where I grew up in Landmark.

At the time, Sir Robert Borden was the prime minister of Canada and Tobias Norris was the premier of Manitoba. World War I had just ended, along with the devastating Spanish flu pandemic.

Over the next 100 years, Mr. Edwin Kroeker would see the world change in unimaginable ways. In the 1920s, Canadians would begin to own cars, radios and telephones.

In 1929, the stock market crash would give way to the dirty thirties, followed by the horrors of World War II, the rise of the Soviet Union and the Cold War. The space race between the United States and the Soviet Union would heat up, with the U.S. putting the first man on the moon in 1969.

Then came the whirlwind of cultural and technological change during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. The advent of the personal computer launched the world into the digital age of the internet. By 2010, Canadians would be carrying more computing power in their hand than was used to send Apollo 11 to the moon.

There is no question about it — over the last 100 years, change took place at a dizzying pace. Yet through it all, one thing remained constant for Mr. Edwin Kroeker: his faith.

Mr. Kroeker is a family friend of ours, and I have known him all of my life. And all of my life I have seen that as the world changed around him, his faith in the saving grace of Jesus Christ did not.

And while his faith is intensely personal, Ed has lived it out publicly as a rock-solid member of our evangelical Mennonite church.

Before the pandemic started and we were still able to attend our places of worship, Ed would drive himself 20 miles to church every week. It would have been easy for him to find a ride with someone else, but he insisted on driving himself just in case he wanted to go somewhere and visit after church services.

About a year ago, I ran into Mr. Edwin Kroeker outside the grocery store in Steinbach. He was in the process of putting his walker into the trunk of his car, and I offered to give him a hand. At 99 years of age, most people are happy for a little help, but Ed refused, telling me that if he started accepting help like that, he would become dependent on people, and he was still quite capable of doing things himself.

Ed has been a consistent, shining example of a man who has strong values and integrity. His example is one which I have cherished deeply and endeavour to follow.

Colleagues, I invite you to join me today, along with Ed’s children, Tim, Wayne, Lynn, and Terry, their spouses, Ed’s grandchildren and great-grandchildren in offering Mr. Edwin Kroeker our warmest congratulations on the occasion of his 100th birthday and wishing him many happy returns.