Football and faith: How 98-year-old Mindy Hurley stays young at heart

Our reporters are constantly out in the community meeting people and sometimes we meet someone whose story we just have to share. That’s what happened when CTV’s Jeff Pickel met Mindy Hurley at a Christmas pudding fundraiser at her church a few weeks ago.

Kitchener’s Mindy Hurley has a unique Sunday ritual.

The 98-year-old’s day starts in a predictable fashion, at church, sitting in the back and helping out new parishioners.

“I wasn’t really sure how to follow along with the service, and Mindy was helping me, pointing out some things,” recalls her friend Clair Smith, adding Mindy sometimes talked “at a louder volume than I thought we should in church.”

After the service and a coffee and catch up with friends, Mindy hops on a bus and makes a pilgrimage to a church of a different variety.

“I never miss church and when church is over there is a bus stop right out front and I head to Morty’s,” she says.

Mindy's Sunday routine includes coffee and catching up with friends at her church after the service. (CTV Kitchener)

For the last three decades, Mindy has been a regular at the Waterloo pub. She comes every Sunday to watch football – and of course enjoy some food and drink.

Chicken wings and Rickard’s Red are among her favourites.

“You’d be surprised how animated she gets,” says Morty’s Pub owner, Jay Taylor. “She’s cheering for her team, she’s having fun and she teasing us if we pick the wrong team.”

Mindy says she started watching the game in the 60s, going to Argos games in Toronto with her late husband.

“I used to get bored silly sitting there, I just went along for the good time,” she says.

Still here for a good time, Mindy is a regular in the Morty’s football pool.

“A couple of years ago, I won it! And the guys were saying ‘how did she win?’ I threw them all off I think,” she says with a laugh.

Mindy's friend Claire says Mindy helped her follow along with the service she was a new parishioner at the Kitchener church they both attend. (CTV Kitchener)

Describing herself as a ‘proud Newfie,’ Mindy has not lost her east coast charm.

“I’m actually going for drinks with her today after today’s service and she warned me that I may not be able to keep up,” her friend Claire says.

Mindy, who’s also a three-time cancer survivor and lost her husband and her adopted son, says life is all about staying positive.

“Go with the flow, sometimes you have to take the bad with the good and everything isn’t just perfect.”

She says staying so laid back takes balance.

“You’ve got to have a little bit of everything in life, really, church and the pub. Get happy at church, get happy at the pub, that’s it.”

Mindy and reporter Jeff Pickel share a laugh at Morty's Pub in Waterloo. (CTV Kitchener)