Harvey Bettis celebrates his 104th birthday

 

By JOSEPH HINDS
Enquirer Democrat Reporter

Harvey Bettis was just a few days from turning 104 and was still driving his car, had a quick mind, and owned a million-dollar grin that belied his age.

When I asked him how he had lived so well and so long, Bettis leaned back in his reclining chair and took a slow, deep breath and said, “Well, I guess I’m one of a kind. So, I just take it one day at a time and before you know it, you are 50 and then you are 75 and then you are 100.” On May 9, Harvey will be 104. The Senior Center of Carlinville will be honoring this achievement at 11:30 this Friday.

When asked how he had maintained such good health, Bettis laughed and said “I eat lots of fish!” This philosophy worked out well for Harvey since he loved to fish. And the fish he loved the most was crappie. He would drive to Lake Okeechobee in Florida and spend his winters fishing for crappie. He always came home with enough to fill his freezer.

Harvey said that he was fishing on Okeechobee one time in his 14’ aluminum boat when he spied some movement along the bank. It looked like a giant log coming to life, but it was an alligator as long as his fishing boat. He dropped his pole, line still in the water, and he cranked up the outboard engine and took off like a rocket leaving a flood of water rushing over the charging giant ‘gator.

Part of Bettis’s key to living a good and long life was eating well, keeping active, and loving his past, present, and future.

Bettis’s past had been filled with farming. He was born on a hillside farm, near where he attended a one-room school-house just a few miles south of where Sunset Lake exists today. As a youngster he wanted to be a cowboy in Montana. However, his dream was too far away. He said that he figured out that he and his horse, “Ranger,” could never have made the trip in one piece. Plus, farming was a lot closer. He was only 12 when he started working a horse to pull a one-furrow plow. Over the years, he advanced to a tractor pulling a two-furrow plow.

Bettis also was a carpenter, who built his own house. He was a pioneer in leading central Illinois farmers away from the moldboard plow, which cut, lifted, and turned the soil over, making it more susceptible to erosion. Bettis designed an early chisel plow which was more effective in preventing the soil from being carried away by the wind and water. He said that the other farmers called him a “bad” farmer because his fields had corn stalks sticking up after plowing. However, they came around to his way of thinking and some farmers even took up “no-till” farming.

Harvey’s present is filled with memories of fishing and hunting with his children and grandchildren. He remembers hunting with his son, Jack, and waiting in the deer stand with his granddaughter, Rachel. Harvey still has his fishing poles standing in his garage. He retired from farming over 25 years ago and marvels at the million-dollar, high-tech, high horse-power farm equipment of today. But even though he admires the modern farmer, he is content with spending time with his family.

Bettis’s future will be filled with family and friends. He has five children, 10 grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren, and 14 great-great-grandchildren. And these numbers will continue to grow. He is busy just keeping up with their birthdays. He smiled when said that these days will fill up his calendars for years ahead.

Bettis will be honored Friday, May 9, at 11:30 a.m. at the Senior Center, and again on Saturday, May 10, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Bowlero Lanes, located at 12470 Rte. 108 in Carlinville.