Helen Doan
{{Short description|Canadian supercentenarian (1911–2024)}}
{{Infobox person
| name =
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1911|9|18|df=y}}
| birth_place = Temiskaming Shores, Ontario, Canada
| death_date = {{death date and given age|2024|4|18|df=y|{{age in years and days|1911|9|18|2024|4|18}}}}
| death_place = Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| nationality = Canadian
| occupation =
| known_for = Oldest living person in Canada (2024)
| spouse = Harold
| children = 2
}}
Helen McKinnon Doan (née Donaldson; 18 September 1911 – 18 April 2024) was a Canadian supercentenarian.
Biography
Helen Doan spent her childhood in Temiskaming Shores. Doan remembered collecting money for the soldiers during the First World War at a young age.{{Cite web |date=2023-09-18 |title='Just keep breathing,' says Toronto resident Helen Doan on her 112th birthday |url=https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/just-keep-breathing-says-toronto-resident-helen-doan-on-her-112th-birthday-1.6566624 |access-date=2025-01-05 |website=Toronto |language=en}} She moved with her parents to Toronto in 1923, where she lived until her death. After graduating from high school, she trained as an accountant, a profession she worked in until her retirement in 1976.{{cite web|access-date=2024-04-05 |date=2023-09-18 |language=en |title=The key to longevity? ‘Just keep breathing,’ says 112-year-old Toronto resident Helen Doan |url=https://www.cp24.com/news/the-key-to-longevity-just-keep-breathing-says-112-year-old-toronto-resident-helen-doan-1.6566539}} In 1987, she published a book Every Woman: Adapting to Mid-Life Change.{{Cite book |last=Doan |first=Helen McKinnon |url=https://openlibrary.org/books/OL85443M/Every_woman |title=Every woman: adapting to mid-life change |date=1987 |publisher=Stoddart |isbn=978-0-7737-5079-1 |location=Toronto}}
In 1935, she married Harold Doan, with whom she had a daughter and a son. She had five grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren.{{cite web|access-date=2024-04-05 |language=en |title=Profile page for Helen Doan |url=https://longeviquest.com/supercentenarians/helen-doan}} She played softball well into old age. According to her own statement, one of her granddaughters taught her how to use an IPad at the age of 98. In September 2021, Doan became a supercentenarian on her 110th birthday. Following the death of Mabel Mah at the age of 113 on January 30, 2024, Doan would be the oldest person living in Canada.{{Cite web |last=Britten |first=Liam |date=January 12, 2023 |title=At 113, one of Canada's oldest people has died in her Vancouver home |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/shige-mineshiba-obituary-1.6711392 |website=CBC News |access-date=January 5, 2025 |archive-date=January 5, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250105183115/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/shige-mineshiba-obituary-1.6711392 |url-status=live }} Helen Doan died on April 18, 2024, at the age of 112 years and 213 days (41,121 days total).