‘Keep on Breathing’: Delaware man celebrating 100th birthday
MILLSBORO, Del. – A lot has happened in our world in the last one hundred years, and one Delaware man has been around for all of it. Milton Fett turns one hundred this Friday, and ahead of the big day, he’s looking back on his life.
“I’m not surprised that he’s 100, because he’s a very strong person, physically and mentally, so I’m not surprised,” Milton’s daughter, Leslie Golub said.
While his upcoming birthday may be his 100th, Milton says his story started back in 1942 when he enlisted to serve in WWII as a radio operator. He studied to be a pilot, but the night before the final test, his plans changed.
“One of the guys in the barracks opened all the windows, and it was in the winter, well I was the guy who wound up with a cold,” he explained.
That cold made him ineligible to take the test. But looking back, Milton and his daughter say those open windows, and his inability to take the test, likely changed the trajectory of his life.
“Sometimes those little things are what changes the course of your life, so he might not be here today if that had happened,” Golub said.
After the war, Milton went on to get married, he had three children, and he filled his time doing anything and everything he could.
“He was a New York City fireman,” Golub said. “He was in the Boston marathon, too!”
“I did own a Jaguar, too, once!” Milton added, laughing.
Even with all those fond memories behind him, he’s the first to tell you life wasn’t always a breeze. He says in his time here on earth he’s lost friends, his wife, and most recently, a girlfriend he met at church when he was in his 80s.
“He took her out on Valentine’s Day to dinner, and she said to him, ‘You know, I’m not interested in a boyfriend,” Golub said.
“And I said ‘Well I only asked you out for dinner!'” Milton said. “I think that one took the heart out of me,” he said of her passing.
But looking back on the last near-century, Milton says he thinks he made it this long but persevering and not letting things to get him. Before he hung up on our Zoom call, he left all of us with one more piece of advice.
“I gotta tell you one more thing… the secret to being 100, is keep on breathing,” he said.
Milton said now he enjoys spending his days reading books, and he still enjoys a nice dinner of steak and potatoes or seafood. Ahead of his birthday on Friday, he’s trying to collect one hundred birthday cards. If you want to help him celebrate and send him one, you can address it to: Milton Fett, 33260 Wading Duck Drive, Millsboro DE 19966.
