Sanders County Ledger - Your Best Source For Sanders County News

On July 30, 1918, renown American writer and poet Joyce Kilmer, an American soldier in the famous Fighting 69th, was killed in action in the Great War's Second Battle of the Marne, the last major German offensive on the Western Front.

On that day in history, the 1st Marine Aviation Force arrived at Brest, France, and the U.S. Army Air Service established the 3rd Pursuit Group, also in France.

It was a substantial date in the United States for John and Jennie Henry of Arikaree, Colorado. It was the birth of their son, David, who was born in his parents' homesteader shack, said Jim Henry of Plains at his father's birthday party Sunday, the day before the big anniversary. On Monday, David J. Henry of Plains became a member of the elite – a centenarian – and one of almost 77,000 people 100 years and older, according to the 2015 U.S. Census Bureau statistics.

"I just feel that I took care of myself real good," said David Henry when asked about the secret to a long life. Jim said his father has always kept active. He took over his family farm in Colorado and worked it for 50 years. However, one time after returning from a trip to Montana and finding that a hailstorm had destroyed his crop, he packed up and moved to Ronan, where he had a farm for 25 years before moving to the Plains area, where he's lived for the last 25 years.

Nearly 30 people showed up at his home Sunday, including his daughter Jennie from Texas, several relatives from Washington and Bozeman, and friends and family from Plains, and his daughter, Nancy Huigen, and granddaughter, Amanda Huigen of Hot Springs. The guests ranged from his great grandson, Parker Flock, 15, to a pair of 91-year-old friends, Joyce Lehman of Plains and Eila Whelchel of Pullman, Washington. Jennie said a dozen relatives from Washington had visited and gave him a party a week earlier.

David's sisters, Mildred and Hettie, have both passed. His son, Kenneth, and daughter, Kathy, live in Colorado. Jennie said he has 10 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild on the way.

David's wife, Mary, passed away in 2015, at age 93, which was extremely hard on him, said Jim. "He's doing a lot better now. He's in excellent health. It's only in the last couple years that he's slowed down a bit," added Jim.

Even after retirement, David has kept busy, mostly working around the house. Jim said he hunted well into his 80s. About four years ago, he built a cart that he could hold onto when going to the mailbox and a platform on it to hold the mail. He doesn't cut his own wood anymore, but goes with Jim when he does.

He makes his own breakfast almost all the time and shaves himself. The Plains Home Delivered Meals program – similar to Meals On Wheels – delivers daily lunch to him and Jim is close by and visits him almost daily. He has a little trouble hearing, but Jim said he refuses to wear hearing aids. He sometimes forgets people's names, but can tell stories that go back to his childhood and remembers his days in the U.S. Army-Air Corps during World War II, when he served as an aviation turret specialist. His granddaughter, Amanda, presented her grandfather with a folded American flag at the party to thank him for his service in the military.

David remembers growing up on the homestead in Colorado, milking the cows by hand and riding a horse before he got his father's old Ford Model A. He likes to tell the story of his grandfather hiding moonshine in the corn bin. "I used to move it some place else and I'd smooth over the spot so he couldn't tell where it was," said David. "Sometimes I'd watch him look for it. He just kept looking till he found it. It was something to do, I guess." He said his grandfather never found out that he was moving the moonshine.

Jim said he hardly takes any medications and likes to take walks. He smoked cigarettes only a little when he was young, but he has chewed tobacco for more than 80 years, something he was doing at his party, but had no trouble blowing out the candles on his birthday cake.

David said he had no big secret to getting to 100. "I don't feel any different," he said. "I think a lot of it is keeping busy. I get around pretty good and I feel good."