Everything in moderation: The secret to seeing a 106th birthday

LACONIA — Franklin Estes remembers it all. Growing up, going to silent movies when he was a little boy, a career at a wire and cable company, the Great Depression, World War II, cranking the family’s Pierce Arrow car, being in a 12-piece band and much more.

On Friday, Estes will turn 106 year old. Born in 1916, he remembers a great deal of his long life. Growing up and later working in Massachusetts, Estes drove his own car and maintained his home until he reached the age of 105. After some health issues, he came to New Hampshire to live with his grandson, Shaun Kelley, and Shaun’s wife, Nancy. Estes will have been residing in Laconia with the family for a year on his 106th birthday.

Of course, a family celebration is planned, but Estes is happy to relax and look back on his amazingly long life. One cannot help but ask, first and foremost, what his secret is to live to 106. He is sharp-witted, and in good health, his face without the deep lines one would imagine.

Smiling, Estes says he eats in moderation, and always got plenty of exercise. “I also lifted weights and did sit-ups,” he recalls. Added to this, he walked miles and never did anything — from eating sweets to having a cocktail — in excess. “He will have one cookie or one drink, but no more than that,” Nancy explains.

Asked if he ever imagined living to be 106, Estes says when he was age 70, he assumed he might live to 75. “I never dwelled on living longer than that.”

His grandson, Shaun, teases Estes, and says, “When granddad was 80 years old, he set up some annuities that would not start paying for 12 years. He must’ve been thinking he would live a long life!”

Looking back, Estes says he was only 2 1/2 pounds at birth, maybe because his mother fell down some stairs while pregnant with him. “An old country doctor advised my parents to move because he thought my health might be affected by the town — North Adams, Massachusetts — where we lived. We then moved to Williamstown, Massachusetts and I attended high school and college there.”

Estes attended college and graduated with a degree in history. After college, he learned that General Cable, a wire and cable company, was looking to hire someone with a chemistry background. “I got hired and I stayed there for 20 years,” he recalls. Estes explained that President Franklin D. Roosevelt said the Axis powers, during World War II, were sinking boats thought to be carrying rubber. The president put out a decree that any plant using copper and rubber must use synthetic rubber. It became Estes' job to help make synthetic rubber. “I worked hard, and we changed the formulas a lot, and we sent the formulas to the government to make sure it was right. Eventually, we hit on the correct formula.”

After a time, Estes took a job as plant manager for another wire and cable company in Brookfield, Massachusetts and retired at age 70.

He married and had a daughter. It was a good life and Estes was a member of the Shriners and played in the organization’s band. He also loved to play golf. After his wife died, Estes eventually remarried and speaks fondly of how beautiful his wife, Althea, was. Nancy shows a photo of Althea, and Estes gazes fondly at the photograph, and one can see his love for her. After she passed away, he continued to live in Massachusetts, until Shaun and the family insisted Estes move to Laconia.

All the changes have been an adjustment, but like everything else in his long life, Estes is philosophical and truly appreciative of his loving family.

Those who learn of his age are obviously curious and want to know what Estes can share about growing up so long ago. What changes has he seen and what was life like back in the early 1900s?

“I remember my parents had an old car they bought for $200. It was a Pierce Arrow car and I think it once belonged to the Rockefellers' daughter in Williamstown. My parents bought it as a second-hand car. I used to have to crank the car by pouring gasoline on the cylinder tops and then use my foot to crank the car.”

New England’s long and snowy winters were no different when Estes was growing up, but the method of dealing with clearing the roads was much slower. He recalls there were wooden platforms loaded with rocks, pulled by horses. These contraptions compacted the snow, and it worked because there were fewer cars on the roads back then.

Estes speaks of the difference in the way people dressed long ago. In his youth, there were no T-shirts and jeans; instead, he wore pants, a shirt, and a tie. Women wore dresses and if anyone — male or female — wanted to attend college, they had to be unmarried.

As the years went by, war broke out and Estes shakes his head as he recalls World War II. “I had pals who were in the Bataan Death March. It was sad. At the time, I was doing wire and cable work for the government.”

Looking back down the years to his youth, Estes also remembers the Great Depression. “We lived in a small city and the Depression was terrible. It was difficult to get a job. I was about 13 years old when I remember a plant in North Adams, Massachusetts where around 100 people would stand outside, hoping for work.”

Estes tells of picking yellow and green beans all day after answering an advertisement in the newspaper. The work was on a farm, and he toiled all day in the fields for $2. “On the way home, I passed out from heat and exhaustion,” he said.

Age has not stopped Estes from living a full life, and although he was slowed down, and does not go out as much, he enjoys living with Shaun and Nancy. “I read, watch television and nap. I do love to watch old westerns on television.” Nancy smiles as she adds that Estes loves Miss Kitty, the saloon owner on the show "Gunsmoke."

Certainly, birthdays are for celebrating and when he turned 102, Estes wanted to dive off Shaun’s boat; at 101 he rode horseback on his birthday. He isn’t sure what he will do to mark his 106th year when July 29 rolls around.

Looking back on his life will likely be on the agenda. “I remember so many things, from the time I was 6 years old,” he says. “I remember the names of my teachers from third grade, for example. But it hasn’t been all roses. The Depression was hard, and my dad died at age 66.”

He also recalls the little things, such as his mother making dandelion wine and his parents canning a lot of food. When Estes worked at General Cable, he got his mother a job there, which was a help to her finances.

At age 106, Estes will be just one of a few to have experienced such a long life. His secret to each day is to live it to its fullest and enjoy it all. And, of course, eat birthday cake.