Aside from the Bose Stereo and the Flat screen television, walking into Richard Backstrom's home was like traveling back in time. Richard, a Quality patient just turned 95 years old on Aug. 26th. As I sat and listened to Richard talk about living to be 95 years old I couldn't help but glance around the apartment he has lived in for 49 years. Sure there were a few updated pieces of furniture but nothing that was as new as me at thirty-four, for a reference point.

As I sat listening to Richard's stories I couldn't help but think what he is telling me is only the tip of the iceberg to what this man has lived to see. Sixteen presidents, two world wars, a depression and as he stated "I never thought I would live long enough to see an election like this" but "it doesn't matter, I have always been a Republican as far back as I can remember." I couldn't help but to ask Richard how he managed to stay so healthy so long, I asked if he did a lot of "smoking and drinking and carrying on in his day?" He replied, in the 20's (Roaring 20's) and 30's he "did what everyone else did, that was just the thing to do."

As a boy Richard spent time in Lincoln Nebraska where his dad worked for the Railroad. He recalled how hard of a worker his dad was saying "the only thing that would keep him from working was passing out (sick)." As Richard got older he always had a goal to go to the University of Nebraska where his older brother and sister attended. However, before he was able to achieve that goal his family moved to Aurora because his dad had a job transfer. Richard had his senior year of high school in Aurora, upon graduation Richard was contemplating what to do with his life then the Stock market crashed and there were not as many "scholarships going around like there are now-a-days."

Richard could recall when doctors actually made house calls and would come to the house with a "glass jar that had a glass stopper" and everyone would get medicine for the flu (they called it influenza, because then they could make the joke: " we just opened the door and in-flew-enza") he recalls the medicine always being red for some reason. As a boy he recalled going on a train ride from Nebraska to California with his dad and taking notes of his journey. When they were in California he got to meet his uncle "Ready" who was a racecar driver. He recalled sitting in the backseat of one of uncle Ready's cars, "and nobody ever had more than one car" and he and his dad and uncle Ready taking the car out and trying to see how fast they could get it to go. Well they clocked the car at about seventy-six miles an hour which was far faster than the average thirty-five miles per hour that everyone travelled at. Richard recalls getting some "raspberries" at school from the kids when he was telling his story of uncle Ready.

As Richard dug deeper pulling out crystallized fragments of his life story I could see the joy in his eyes due to the fact he had someone there to talk to who was truly riveted by his story. Sometime after Richard moved to Morris, he took a job as advertising director for the Morris Herald. He recalled the awards they (the Paper) had won for best flat-press paper. (Flat-press being before Rotary-press, before Ink-jet, before Laser-jet, before there were even computers.) I could tell by the enthusiasm Richard showed that this was a small part of his life that he really cherished.

Richard is a fan of Big Band music and as we were getting ready to leave he picked up this tiny remote control and cranked up the volume on the Bose stereo system loud enough to shake the dust off the old wooden coffee table sitting across the room. Richard smiled and did a slight hip jig as I shook his hand to leave and invited me back anytime.

I could probably write a whole book on the stories Richard shared with me that day but there isn't enough time in my busy life to do him complete justice and capture every little detail that he seems to remember at 95 years old. I can only hope that I have as good of memory as he does when I approach the decade mark. However, I now have a hard time remembering what my wife needed at the grocery store unless she text messages me a list. Wonder what Richard would think of that?

By: Ray Odom Jr.