Frank Knerr turns 101!

Can you imagine what it would be like to turn 101?

Frank Knerr can, he just achieved this milestone. January 6, 2012 marked his official birthday.

A resident of Peter Becker Community since 2009, Frank has seen a lot of life.

He was born in 1911, in a time when things were very different. Many roads would have been brick paved or left as dirt or gravel. Automobiles would have been still seen much as a novelty for many people, although that was changing.  There was no television, and radio had not really moved into commercial use. You received news through written means (newspapers, circulars, magazines).  The telegraph and telephone allowed for longer distance communication. Photographs were created using real film and were all black and white, unless colored by hand. Electrical power was coming into it's own in upper and middle class homes. Washing machines might be driven by hand and stoves were heated by wood or fire.

Life expectancy for men was just 50 years old. Frank has more than doubled that number!

Frank was born in Delphi, Pennsylvania, a small area just beyond Schwenksville.

"My first job was a dirty one," explained Frank.  He mixed feed in a feed mill, now called Leidy's.

He also served in the Army as a Stevedore during WWII. He considers himself very lucky.  He was involved in what was referred to as an "invasion." The boat he served on was fired upon, but not significantly hit. The boat behind him took a direct hit. He never was told the outcome of that, but thought many souls were lost. He seemed happy to share stories of travel and friendships and doing his work on the boat to the best of his ability. He had lots to talk about and periodically asked, "how much more of the story can you stand to hear."

When he returned from the service, Frank moved back in with his parents. Shortly after he was offered a job back at the feed mill. He refused, at first, wanting to get a job as a Stevedore and not –MORE-

wanting to work in the "dirty mill" again. After some thought and counsel from his family, he went back to Leidy's. To his delight, they didn't have him mixing feed, they gave him a different jobs serving in many roles. He worked there for the next 56 years.

He married his wife Marie, shortly after returning to the feed mill, bought a "fixer-upper" in Schwenksville, raised his family and a lot of vegetables.

Frank and Marie moved to Peter Becker Community in March of 2009. He was 98. It was only one year earlier that he realized that taking care of his home was becoming too much for them. "I miss my silver queen corn truck patch a whole lot. In fact, we gathered our last harvest in the fall before we moved, there was so much corn that we had to share with our family and friends. We froze some, like 30-40 ears, and brought it here to our apartment."

Frank recently lost his wife, Marie, at age 93, and said that life is very hard without her. He lives in residential living and gets weekly help with errands from his family.

He loves to get visits from his daughter, Bonnie Stengl, son-in-law, John and granddaughter, Kim. He was thrilled with the celebration his family brought to him on his 101st birthday. According to Frank, "The party had everything, cake, ice cream and they even helped me take down my Christmas decorations. It was just perfect."

When asked for the key to his long life. He said, "I don't really understand why I got to be this old. I guess I'd say, keep working and stay active, that's what we did."