108 and going strong
Supercentenarians live to be 110. Men rarely make it that far, but Ron Schwartz is knocking on the door.
Leaning in close, I asked Ron Schwartz if he thought he might be the oldest living man in Wisconsin.
"I'm not trying for a record," came his reply.
Still, it seemed like a reasonable inquiry for his 108th birthday, which fell on Thursday, Valentine's Day.
If you know of any men in our state who are 108 or older and still breathing, let me know. So-called supercentenarians, people who reach 110, are mostly women. Men rarely make it that far, but Ron is knocking on the door.
They threw a party Thursday at Clement Manor in Greenfield, and Ron's fellow residents there sang to him and shared cake.
Ron has an assisted-living apartment, and at his age you might assume he's been there quite a while. But he was 107 when he moved from his northwest side Milwaukee home just last summer after he took a fall.
Heck, he drove a car until he was 104, which eventually even he agreed might be risky. "You're going to have an accident one of these days," he told himself, "and they'll say what's that old fool doing out there driving?"
He says a lot of irreverent and funny stuff like that. One of the many friends and relatives and staff crammed into his apartment while I interviewed Ron mentioned that he used to collect restaurant menus. "There's one here," he devilishly told me, "that says, 'Do not take this menu.'"
"Luck. Everybody in my family lived to be old. I think that's got a lot to do with it." Ron Schwartz, explaining his secret of longevity
'Luck' and good genes
People who reach or exceed 100 should expect that some reporter is going to ask for their secret of longevity.
"Luck," was Ron's answer. Sensing I needed more, he said, "Everybody in my family lived to be old. I think that's got a lot to do with it."
His parents, Nellie and Victor Sr., both lived past 100, he said. His brother Victor died last year at 95. Oldest brother Charlie died at 94. Two sisters, Nellie and Dorothy, both were 97 when they passed. And a third sister, Catherine, who also lives at Clement Manor and has lunch with Ron most days, will turn 100 in September. She was a teacher for 41 years.
Ronald Valentine Schwartz was born Feb. 14, 1911, at his family's farmhouse near East Troy. His father had to fetch the doctor by traveling four miles each way in a horse-drawn wagon.
A 1927 graduate of East Troy High School, Ron farmed until the family sold the operation in 1953, and then he headed for big city Milwaukee where he worked in a series of factory jobs until retiring in 1985 at age 74.
Ron and his wife, Mary, were in their 50s when they married in 1965 and so did not have any children. She got Alzheimer's disease, and Ron cared for her the best he could until she moved to St. Anne's Salvatorian Campus near their home. She died at age 96 in 2002.
After that, Ron kept going to St. Anne's a couple times a week to mingle with residents, which was good for them and for him, even as he passed age 100 as a volunteer. He also developed a hobby of building small accurate models of churches and people's homes out of wood, cardboard and paper. He made hundreds and gave them away free.
Zero aches and pains
These days, Ron needs a walker or wheelchair and oxygen tank to get around, but he still enjoys socializing. He hears and converses remarkably well for someone his age, and in fact was on the phone when I walked in. He takes only one pill for his heart, and reports having exactly zero aches and pains.
Ron used to enjoy a martini from time to time but rarely drinks now. He does have an occasional weakness for chocolate.
When I asked if you need to hit the gym in order to live this long, he said farmers don't need gyms. But he played some golf and sometimes pedaled a stationary bike at home. He tried smoking once, hated it and tossed away the rest of the pack.
Ron got to more Milwaukee Brewers games than I did last season, and he proudly displays photos of the day he threw out the first pitch at age 102.
The next oldest man at Clement Manor is a mere 101. For a guy not chasing the age record, Ron is showing some serious staying power.
Just keep living, he likes to tell people, and stay away from the undertaker.