Ticat superfan's family celebrates 50 years in Canada on same day as Grey Cup game

Sunday's Grey Cup game is a special day for Hamilton Tiger-Catfans, but few will have better reasonto celebrate than Eva Quildon.

The 82-year-old is a Ticatsand CFL superfan. The championshipfinal this year between her teamand Winnipeg Blue Bombers is in her home city of Hamilton, and she'll be at the big game.

But there's also apersonal reason Sunday matters to her:It'll mark50 years since her kids landed in Canada after leaving Trinidad and Tobago.

"To tell you the truth, with my children, they're the type that haveto have an anniversary so I bought tickets for them," she said.

"The enthusiasm we have has really surpassed a lot of things I've donein Canada. We're going to celebrate it from Saturday right on."

Quildon said she arrived in Hamilton in September 1968, three years beforethe rest of her family.

"It was kind of scary and lonely because in Trinidad you have your childrenand they were [ages] 15 to 3,so that means you have to go back and forth all the time, and I went but I had good parents, very good parents. They were like parents to them."

She came to Canada because itwas seeking registered practical nurses. Quildon said she went from being a housewife in Trinidad to working in nursing homes in Hamilton.

Despite arriving with no family in the city, Quildon quickly became involved in the community and the Ticats.

"You just come to Canada and don't know what it's all about," she said.

"When you come here, and have to go to a stadium and sit in the cold, it was a different experience entirely ... when I went in the mid-summer, that's when I really enjoyed the game."

Her first Grey Cup game one of more than 15 she's attended was in 1972 when the Ticatsplayedin their own hometown.

She's also been a part of the Hamilton team'sfanclub, called the Cats Claws, where she's known for cooking mountains of food and painting children's faces.

Outside of being a diehard football fan, Quildon has won awards forcommunity involvement, including the John C. Holland honour, the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal and Hamilton's Senior of the Year.

When she's not doing that work, she's busy with her family she has five kids, seven grandchildren and four great-grandkids.

Still, with all of her involvement with the team, she wrangled the familyinto that world,too.

Her 63-year-old daughter Felicia, who's a season ticket-holder, saidthe 50th anniversary of their immigration landing on Grey Cup day is "surreal."

"Anything could've happened in 50 years, so for us to be celebrating it togetheris great," she said, standing next to her mother.

"It just so happens to be Hamilton, so it's more exciting ... it's the fun of doing it and all of us together."

Quildonsaid she has her whole Ticatscostume ready for Sunday'sbig game.

"We want to win the Cup this year ... at my age, I have to relax ...I'll be jumping up and down, but I'm not supposed to," she said, laughing.

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of.You can read more stories here.