Looking back on her long life, Wanita Johnson is certain of this: Kindness is key.

“It goes without saying,” Johnson said from her home at the Whistle Bend Place continuing care center in Whitehorse, where she is celebrating her 104th birthday this weekend.

Johnson came of age during World War II. It was a period that changed the course of her life, she says.

“It had a lot to do with where you end up and what you end up doing and who you meet,” she said.

Over many decades and through many adversities, Johnson has learned to adapt to change.

Johnson’s only daughter, Linda Johnson, says she is grateful her mother is still healthy and that she has learned from her experiences, especially navigating the difficulties.

“How our previous generations got through hard times, because we’re going through hard times now and scary times — and they already did,” Linda said.

“So when I talk to her, she gives me that feeling that, you know, it’s like the Queen and her family always said, you have to ‘keep calm and carry on’ and then things will get better. And we must do Look to the future with positive hope.”

Wanita was born in Taymouth, NB, just after the First World War. Her mother died young, and Wanita grew up between a family in Ontario and the Maritimes.

When he finished high school with typing and accounting skills, he quickly landed a job in Ottawa working for the federal government. It was 1939, on the brink of another world war, and a time when many young women were entering the workforce.

These days, Wanita moves a little more slowly and sometimes relies on Linda to remember certain details. But looking through a stack of old photos, it’s clear Wanita’s memory is still sharp.

“This is Louise, this is Gladys, and this is a friend — I can never remember her name half the time — her last name was Devlin,” she said, pointing to friends from those early years in Ottawa.

Wanita says they had a lot of fun together in those days, with picnics, skiing and dancing – but there was a serious side to it all.

“Quite hectic,” she recalls, “we had to work long hours.”

One of her primary duties during the war was to process the paychecks of soldiers or their widows. It was not uncommon to stumble upon familiar names, a sad reminder that some friends’ loved ones would never return home.

Wanita was lucky in that respect though. She had met her young man, Charlie, in Ottawa before he left as a radio signalman. They kept in touch and wrote letters while he was overseas and when Charlie returned home – after being part of the D-Day invasion – they married and had Linda.

Like many other young women at the time, Wanita had to leave the workforce.

Soon enough, however, the government came calling again, and when the Korean War began, Wanita returned to civil service, this time to stay. Linda was enrolled in one of the first kindergartens in Ottawa.

The legacy of the war, however, continued to affect their lives. Charlie died in 1979, and Linda claims that her father and many of his colleagues died younger than they should have because of their wartime experiences.

“His health was certainly greatly affected. He died of Lou Gehrig’s disease, probably spent years in the little radio shacks, transmitting radio telegraph signals and sleeping on the ground, it was raining, it was cold, the food was not good. “Who knows what,” said Linda.

Wanita and many of her contemporaries were widowed in their 60s. In Ottawa, she maintained a tight-knit community of friends, many of them women who had lived through similar experiences.

“The war is really a shortening of opportunities for the men, and for the women, they stayed together … when they were widowed, they went on and supported their communities, they were busy,” Linda said.

“They didn’t sit back and cry a lot of tears – they went out and lived life.”

Wanita remained in Ottawa until a few years ago when she moved to the Yukon. Linda had raised her own family in Whitehorse, so Wanita ended up being close to them.

Even at 104, Wanita continues to live life to the fullest. She can also play three bingo cards at once.

The family planned a birthday party for her on Saturday.

“Then on Monday we will go to the Remembrance (Day) ceremony and remember Dad,” Linda said.