PEI-natives long life started in Cascumpec-Roxbury area

ALBERTON - When there wasn't room on a white board to write "Visitors from Prince Edward Island" large enough for Mary Josephine Ray to read, Wendell Cameron told staff to simply write "Visitor, P.E.I."
"Visitors, all the way from Prince Edward Island. Isn't that nice," responded Ray after reading the message.
Cameron, an employee at Summerset Manor, decided to pay a visit to the United States' oldest resident while visiting an acquaintance at New Hampshire's Maplewood Manor.
Ray passed away Monday at the age of 114 years and 294 days. The Gerontology Research Group believed the Island native was the second oldest person on earth. A woman in Japan was born seven days ahead of her.
"The thing that struck me was her spunk," Cameron said of Ray, who left P.E.I. at age 3. "She still had something to live for. She wanted to be the oldest."
Although hard of hearing with eyesight failing, Ray didn't look her age.
"I would put her at about 100," said Cameron.
Ray had a celebrity status at the nursing home where she spent her final years.
Staff guarded her to the point that they were selective about who was permitted to visit her. Being from her native P.E.I. got him in, admitted Cameron.
Ray lived in Maine for 60 years and moved to New Hampshire in 2002 to be closer to her family.
It's believed Ray was born in the Cascumpec-Roxbury area. Having left here 111 years ago few Islanders knew of her although it's believed she last visited when she was about 75.
Ninety-eight year-old Edna Arsenault of Duvar is a cousin but never met Ray.
"I heard she was born in Cascumpec," said Arsenault, whose mother was Ray's first cousin.
Fr. Albin Arsenault, parish priest in Miscouche was also a cousin. His great-grandmother and Ray's father were sister and brother.