Creston will be marking the birthday of a remarkable resident and a senior who has been an inspiration to the community over the course of her long life.
Jet Fumerton will celebrate her 100th birthday September 9, with family and friends who will gather in town on that weekend to help her.
Jet, currently a resident at Swan Valley Lodge, ran Fumerton’s Motel in Creston for many years with her husband Les, living on a property just outside of town. But her impact on the community and indeed the country is large.
Jet was born in Norquay, Saskatchewan, in 1923, and grew up on a farm there. Like all farm kids of that time and place, she grew up skating and playing hockey on frozen sloughs — but she never stopped, continuing to play hockey into her 80s.
When she moved to Creston in the 1960s, she continued on with hockey, playing with the Ladies Hockey team and enjoying great success. That team has since been renamed in her honour — the Creston Jets.
Among her achievements, Jet was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, for being the oldest female to play hockey in this country. Both the Creston Valley Thunder Cats of the KIJHL and the Vancouver Canucks of the NHL are offering congratulations on the occasion of her centenary.
Jet was honoured by then B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell during the 2010 Olympics, at that event’s Spirit of Hockey tournament. She also ran the Olympic flame through Creston on the torch’s trek to Vancouver that year.
Jet’s family has organized a come and go event at Trinity United Church on September 8 between the hours of 2pm and 4:30pm. Everyone is welcome to come help Jet celebrate.