Like many celebrating 25th birthdays, Eugene Florence likes to drive fast and wouldn’t give up his independence for the world.
Florence just can’t move the way most folks in their 20s do.
Born Feb. 29, 1904, the retired minister is among an estimated 187,000 Americans with a leap year birthday.
On Sunday, he turns 25–and 100.
The key to his longevity?
“Clean living and good whiskey,” Florence said jokingly. “Well, I really don’t drink. I’ve only been drunk three times in my life.”
The centenarian has lived in Ft. Worth since moving from East Texas with his family during the 1940s. He has 17 grandchildren and outlived five wives and three of four children.
He doesn’t drink coffee or smoke and said his only health problems came during his 60s, when he had a polyp removed.
He drives to AARP meetings or to nearby Decatur, Denton or Pilot Point to preach. He lives alone and tends his garden, where he has okra, tomatoes, mustard greens and a pear tree.
More Top Picks Buying Advice
On Thursday, Florence was honored by the retirees association of Texas Christian University, where he worked as a janitor from 1964 to 1976 and from 1979 to 1995.
“You the chancellor?” Florence asked Chancellor Victor Boschini, 48. “You are mighty young.”
Florence said he took classes at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary to become a preacher. Nowadays, he visits Texas Christian weekly to supply fresh vegetables to employees in the Human Resources Department.
It’s no big deal that his birth date comes only once every four years, he said. On non-leap years, his family usually throws him a party on the 28th.
“Every year, somebody always cooks me a fine meal,” he said. “So I’m grateful for that.”