100 years of ‘always doing something’

Johnny Wells is always doing something.

This weekend, that something is celebrating his 100th birthday.

Wells was born Oct. 13, 1924, in Gifford, Ill. His home in Clarkston is full of memories from his life.

Wells has kept awards from when he was on the track relay team growing up in Gifford. The small town had 500 to 600 people, and Wells was milking cows when he was 7 years old on his parents’ farm. The farm he grew up on didn’t have electricity or running water.

“I was walking on snow drifts deeper than I was tall,” Wells said.

His dad sold the farm in 1932 or 1933, and the family moved into town where they had lights and running water. The amenities were much different than the technology that exists now, though Wells doesn’t pay attention. He stopped keeping up with technology in 2000 — he doesn’t have a computer, email, voicemail or text.

“I’m at peace pretty well,” he said.

After his earlier years, Wells joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1943, which is documented with a photo of his platoon that hangs on his wall. Initially he was going to join the Air Force along with two other friends on his basketball team. When they went to sign up the person at the Air Corps said something that didn’t agree with Wells. He told the man, “I’m going down the hall to join the Marine Corps.” His two friends joined him.

At the time, joining the military was just “the thing that everybody did.”

In the Marine Corps, he took a platoon to the Pacific Ocean from 1943-45. He served in the Pacific on the Gilbert Islands, Marshall Islands and Iwo Jima during World War II.

“I just did what I was told, like everybody else did,” Wells said. “I’m making it sound very simple.”

When he played sports Wells didn’t take harassment from other people and that attitude remained with Wells throughout his lifetime. People know him as someone who “says what he does and does what he says.”

“I was a Marine before I was a Marine,” Wells said about his mindset.

After the war, he had various jobs including driving a cab; delivering milk, first with door-to-door delivery then to grocery stores; and working as an insurance agent. After he retired when he was 62 he bought a truck and transported boats and all kinds of trailers from manufacturers to dealers across the country. During that time he drove 275,000 miles in four winters and three summers.

“Everybody says I could write three books, one before Marine Corps, one during the Marine Corps, and one after,” Wells said.

He also kept active in sports, playing golf with a 10 handicap from age 62 to 72. His award for winning a golf tournament in Kennewick also hangs on his wall — and it’s part of the story of how he ended up in Clarkston.

After he was in the Marine Corps, he lived in the Imperial Valley in California. He liked the heat, which was similar to when he was overseas, but then the area got too humid. He met a man from Kennewick at a golf tournament in Acapulco, Mexico. Wells had already sold his house and was looking for a new location when he was told about Kennewick, a place that’s hot and dry. That was in May, and by July 1985 he relocated to Kennewick. He moved to Clarkston in 2001 after his divorce.

Other memories from his life are displayed through his house, like hats that note his service in World War II and a hat with pins for blood donations to the Red Cross. He has the ball from the first pitch at the NAIA World Series when he was 97 years old. He’s been asked to return for the first throw for the event this coming May.

He also has buttons, key chains and patches for donations to the Wounded Warrior Project.

“I didn’t make any big donation but if you get enough little ones it all helps,” Wells said about the donations to Wounded Warrior and St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.

There are also signs of new memories, with his birthday celebration coming up, alongside some older memories. The birthday cards for his 100th are displayed next to a wooden card stand he kept in his insurance office. The stand held birthday cards for his client’s children. He would put their birthday date where the stamp goes so he knew when to mail them.

His own birthday celebration will extend throughout the weekend. Friday he had one celebration planned with those at his apartment complex.

“But Sunday (today), I haven’t got anything because I’m expecting about 15 phone calls,” Wells said.

He has three children, two sons and a daughter, seven grandchildren and one great-grandson. Some have already visited for his 100th birthday celebration, including his great-grandson.

When it’s not his birthday, Wells stays active with coffee visits and chats with others. Those activities help to keep him going even though he’s slowed down.

He also keeps busy by making pouches and slings for wallets and phones. He made one for himself when he got a new car and couldn’t sit on the seat with his wallet in his pocket. So he made a sling that goes over his head with pouches for his wallet. He has another pouch for when he gets his mail.

Then one of his neighbors needed something for their phones and a fall alert notification. So he made more pouches and slings using a sewing machine that’s “almost as old as I am.”

“I’m always making something,” he said. “Always doing something.”

Brewster may be contacted at kbrewster@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2297.