On January 9th, Ken Landis turned 100 years old—a milestone which only approximately 0.027% of the people in the United States achieve. On meeting him, one would never guess that he’s a centenarian. He’s spry, lives alone, and does his own cooking and cleaning.
Ken’s memory is sharp, and he remembers minute details of his younger years.
Born Jan 9, 1925, in North Manchester, Indiana, Ken was the second oldest of six children. When he was just a child, his parents, Harvey and Ethel, moved the family to Tampa, where his dad built their house.
A few years later, they moved into a two-story home in Mango, near Tampa. It had four bedrooms upstairs and a kitchen with a wood-burning stove, living room, dining room, bath and laundry room downstairs. Ken’s dad built a 500-gallon water tank that caught rainwater. The sun heated the water for bathing. Solar power is not such a new thing, after all!
Ken’s parents taught their children discipline and self-reliance. “Mother taught each of us at a very young age to sew on buttons and iron our own clothes. The irons were heavy cast iron, and we had several heating on the back of the old cast iron cook stove,” Ken remarks. “Many times, the iron was too hot and would scorch the clothes!”
Ken and his siblings made their own kites from newspaper, sticks, and string. “Our kite string was made up of many short pieces tied together. When the string broke—Bye, Bye, kite! We would chase it with hopes that it would fall to the ground.”
The children went barefoot, even to school. Shoes were for Sunday or dress up occasions. Unfortunately, his mother passed away not too long after her sixth child was born.
In 1934, he attended the World’s Fair in Chicago with his father and saw the very first microwave oven.
The Landis family had a cow, chickens, goats and rabbits. They ate the chickens and rabbits and milked the goat. They canned vegetables, made their own sauerkraut from cabbage, and made root beer which they bottled in used soda bottles. Besides these foods and fresh vegetables, the rest of their diet consisted of grits, pork and beans, pasta and SPAM.
On a half acre plot, they grew a variety of vegetables and many fruits, including watermelon, papaya, and strawberries. The rest of their thirty acres was pasture.
His dad only made $100 a month from his teaching job and was paid only nine months out of the year, so they had to live frugally. His mother made dresses and shirts out of feed sacks that were coarse woven cotton.
To earn money, the children would pull Spanish moss from the trees and carry it in their wagons to a place where it was processed to make stuffing for arms, seats and backs of chairs. He and his brother, Dale, delivered newspapers.
When World War II broke out, Ken got a deferment from the draft because, as a member of the Church of the Brethren, he was a conscientious objector. In place of the military, he served 2½ years without pay and benefits with the forest service cutting down chestnut trees used for tanning leather, which was in demand for the armed forces.
In 1945, Ken moved to Orleans County in western New York state. He worked as a milk tester, traveling from farm to farm, testing each cow’s milk.
He married his wife, Frances, in 1947, and they eventually had four children. Ken built a small house on property his wife had bought before they got married and then added to it as the family grew.
Later, he sold farm automation equipment. Part of that involved putting together metal grain storage bins. His older children would help him assemble them sometimes.
When Ken officially retired, he kept working doing cabinetry work and other odd jobs. He and Frances traveled, visiting Mexico, Spain, and other countries. The couple bought a travel trailer and among the places they visited were Canada and Michigan. Eventually, they bought a winter home in Kissimmee.
Sadly, Frances passed away in 2015.
Ken came back to Florida in 2017 and moved into Weeki Wachee North Mobile Home Park. He drives his golf cart to the clubhouse almost every day to do exercises in the heated pool, uses a rowing machine and does stretches before he gets out of bed. He enjoys doing jigsaw puzzles and crosswords and watching the Buffalo Bills on TV!
His daughter, Lois, comments, “My parents taught me to be careful about the use of my money. They had me pay for my own college and my own wedding. My dad made doll cradles for my sister and me. He always helped people in need. One of his outstanding attributes is that he was always organized. My mom never had to pick up after him. Even today, he knows where everything is in his house.”
[Courtesy photo]
Ken’s oldest son, Norm, remarks, “His Christian life was a good foundation for us to be productive citizens.” Bruce, his younger son, comments, “One of the most profound things about Dad is the many different things he’s done throughout his life. He knew how to do almost everything.”
And what is the secret to his longevity?
“Faith and trust in Jesus, our Savior,” Ken remarks.
His diet consists of oatmeal with blueberries for breakfast and an apple with his lunch. In addition, Ken eats a salad every day and stays away from highly processed foods. The fact that he never smoked or drank also contributes to his health. He is truly the poster child for longevity.
Ken attends Cornerstone Baptist Church in Spring Hill, where he enjoys monthly Senior Saints Fellowship.
The residents at Weeki Wachee North threw him a gala birthday party. On hand to congratulate him was Ana Segovia, an aide for Gus Bilirakis, the district representative to the U.S. House of Representatives, who read a personal message from the congressman. Ryan Amsler, one of the Hernando County Commissioners, also offered his congratulations on behalf of the commissioners.
And to put the “icing on the cake,” Ken got a surprise ride in the sidecar of a local resident’s motorcycle! There’s a song by Rod Stewart entitled “Forever Young.” It states, in part:
And may you grow to be proud, dignified and true
And do unto others as you’d have done to you.”
To paraphrase one of the lines from the song:
“Ken Landis, may you remain Forever Young.”
