KINGMAN — Birthdays at a senior living facility are a big deal and it’s no different at the White Cliffs Senior Living Center. The recent celebration was for Arthur James “Jack” Feetham who turned 101 years old on Friday.
Staff at White Cliffs say Jack is very independent and lucid. Jack, as a nickname for “Arthur” draws some concerns about lucidity. There needs to be an explanation about the ‘name game’.
Jack, in a clear, steady voice, said, “A cousin of my dad’s gave me the name. My dad was Arthur James. His cousin was Arthur James, and when he asked what my name was, he said, “Oh, no, not another one!” He says, “We’re going to call him Jack.”
And that stuck. So much for concerns about Jack’s lucidity at age one hundred and one. Like so many, of what has been termed “the greatest generation”, Jack served in the Navy during World War Two.
“I was stationed, really all over. I was stationed in Alaska for a year, and then in the South Pacific. They put me back aboard ship and I went all over. I was on Okinawa for over a year. They put me there and put me in an outfit like the Sea Bees.”
It was from there, that his repair ship was ordered to Japan after the end of the war, that a memory was etched into Jack’s mind that has lasted throughout his years’. Suddenly his speech got very halting.
“The devastation was something else. And, uh, we weren’t there too long. And uh, we left. And, uh, it was a mess”
After the war, Jack had his own electrician’s business in Las Vegas for several decades. So, now comes the perfunctory question for all centenarians. To what do you attribute your longevity?
“I have no idea, I guess. I just got a good immune system, that’s for sure.”
He must have had to have survived America’s pandemics of the Spanish flu, the Hong Kong flu, and Covid.
Darn, I was hoping he’d say he had a nightly double shot of whiskey and a cigar. I guess I don’t have a chance like Arthur James “Jack” Feetham, of making it to one hundred and one. Happy Birthday, Jack, and many more, sir.
For the birth year of 1924, the male life expectancy was age 68.3. At 101, Jack has cheated the Grim Reaper out of 32.7 years.
