Canadian centenarian waited until 102 to fulfill her dream of walking across the delayed Gordie Howe bridge; now Rita Georgeff has one wish for her 103rd birthday

At 102, Rita Georgeff has already crossed an item off her bucket list. Now, her wish for her 103rd birthday is much simpler. “I reach my birthday, actually,” Georgeff said with a laugh when asked what she wants for her next birthday.

The lifelong resident of Windsor, Ontario’s Sandwich Town neighborhood, turned 102 on August 28. Just days later, on Sept. 1, she fulfilled a wish that had been waiting for years: walking across the newly opened Gordie Howe International Bridge connecting Windsor and Detroit, according to CTV News.

Georgeff had originally hoped to make the walk for her 100th birthday, but delays in the bridge's opening meant she had to wait.


“I wanted to really do this when I was 100 and I had to wait two years to do it,” she told CTV News.

Asked whether the wait had been worth it, Georgeff had a straightforward answer. “It sure is.”

Georgeff's long-awaited birthday walk

The walk was organized by Georgeff's friends, who had been waiting alongside her for the opportunity. “We’ve been waiting for two years. It was planned for her 100th birthday. It got postponed, postponed again,” her friend Gail Bondy said, according to CTV News.

Georgeff did not simply join the group for the occasion. She led much of the walk herself, while her friends stayed nearby in case she needed assistance.

“She was unbelievable,” Bondy said afterward. “The way she was going without wanting any help at all. Let me be. Follow me. Be there if I hesitate. It was all Rita.”

Shortly after beginning the walk, Georgeff expressed her excitement.

“Oh gosh. I’m doing it!” Along the way, fellow pedestrians stopped to wish her a happy birthday, take photographs and applaud her determination.

A bridge that connects more than two cities

For Georgeff, the new bridge also carried a connection to the past. She recalled being just 7 years old when large crowds gathered around the Ambassador Bridge, another crossing between Windsor and Detroit.

“I was 7 years old and I lived on the corner of Peter and Indian Road and there were just mounds and mounds of people on the bridge,” she remembered.

“But at 7, you really don’t know what what’s going on,” she added.

The Gordie Howe International Bridge, which opened on July 27, gave Georgeff an opportunity to experience another major connection between the two cities more than nine decades later.

She was also impressed by the structure itself. “The Gordie Howe International Bridge is really a feat of good engineering,” she said.

What does she want for her 103rd birthday?

After spending years waiting to fulfill one ambitious birthday wish, Georgeff is not looking for another major adventure just yet. Her answer about turning 103 was simple, and perhaps fitting after everything she has accomplished.

“That I reach my birthday, actually,” she said with a laugh.