SUN CITY – Unlike many Sun City residents, George Keller of Neighborhood 2 does not use a snow-removal service, claiming, “You never know when they’re going to come. It’s easier to [snow] blow it.”
Even at 101 years old, Sun City resident George Keller (above) of N.2 doesn’t let a little thing like Blizzard 2011 keep him snowbound. (Photo by Chris LaPelusa/Sun Day)
So when he woke up on the morning of February 2, his shadow long on the day meant for groundhogs, he began snow blowing the three and four and five feet of snow drift that Blizzard 2011 dropped on his driveway and walkways the day and night before. And then when he was done with that, he plowed the sidewalk to clear a path to his neighbor.
Maneuvering through the aftermath of Blizzard 2011 presented challenges for even the youngest and most physically capable of individuals. And no matter the efforts, many were still left snowbound. However, for George Keller, the day after the blizzard was just another winter’s day for this 101 year old.
Keller turned 101 on December 14, 2010 and said that, like most people, he believes, he never thought he’d live so long. In his lifetime, Keller has survived his wife of 51 years and one of his two children. He also has four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
When asked what attributes to his longevity, a characteristic he said is not widely customary in his family, Keller relates the butt of a joke he once heard.
“I just keep breathing,” he said.
However, he did say that he has always led an active life and has a positive attitude.
His daughter, Lynn, who lives with Keller, believes that her father’s longevity is due to moderation.
“[He doesn’t] do anything to excess. [He goes] to bed, gets a descent night’s sleep. [He doesn’t] overdo it eating or drinking. [He’s] never smoked. [He] just lived a very moderate life,” Lynn said.
Keller will be the first to admit that he has his share of health problems, most of which, though, didn’t occur until he was 85 or 90. Until that point, Keller said that he felt “real good.”
“I’m an overhaul,” Keller said about the procedures he’s undergone to maintain his health. “All in all, I’d have to say I did pretty good.”
Which he has, considering after a bypass when he was 85, his doctor said he gave Keller about three years.
“Well, I’m going on seventeen,” Keller said.
Keller was born in Chicago and moved with his parents to Lombard when he was three-and-a-half years old to an area called Home Acres, which, Kellar explained, offered what its name suggested: acreage. Keller remembers that his early childhood home didn’t have gas or electricity when they first arrived.
“We heated with kerosene; we cooked with kerosene,” Kellar recalled.
Gas came a year later, but Keller said they didn’t have electricity until 1921. And they never had a phone his entire time living there. In fact, Keller didn’t get his first phone until seven years after he’d gotten married.
Keller suffers both macular degeneration and glaucoma and is also very hard of hearing, three ailments that his daughter Lynn said prevents him from doing even more than he is really capable of now.
“He loves to argue,” Lynn said. “He’d be at Current Events if he could see and hear.”
“My pastime is arguing,” Keller joked. “Of course, they [people] get tired of me arguing. I recognize that, but I can’t stop arguing.”
Keller retired in 1972 at age 62, having worked 47 years as a photo engraving, preparing plates for press for Life magazine, Time magazine, among others at the printing company, and has been retired for almost as many years as he worked.
In his lifetime, Keller has seen nine of the ten great snow storms in the Chicago area and thinks that because of the drifts of Blizzard 2011, this past storm was almost worse than the one in 1967, which he remembers kept him from work for three days. He was, however, in Blizzard 1967, still able to drive his family to the movies in his Rambler station wagon, when his neighbor who drove a Lincoln was snowbound, proving then as it did with Blizzard 2011 that it takes more than snow and years to keep George Keller from living.
And if you’re not impressed with George Keller, then you might be by his older brother, who is turning 103.
