While researching another topic for our upcoming Fall newsletter, we came across this gem from the September 18, 1929 Tacoma Ledger newspaper about Bay View resident Paul Cunningham, then 83 years old. He represented Whidbey Island’s agricultural display at the western Washington Fair in Puyallup.
Called ‘the poet of Whidbey’, the plainsman, adventurer and pioneer attributed his excellent health to a lifetime of abstaining from liquor, tobacco, swearing and gambling.
“I’m 83 years young,” he told a reporter.
“Why, I can run as fast and far as when I was a boy, jump as high, work as hard — I’m not old yet. I’m getting younger. I’ve got my second eyesight, threw away my glasses eight years ago and can see perfectly.
I’ve got my third set of teeth, too, and they’re working fine. The second set of store teeth wore out awhile back,” he said.
The full article can be read in the post clipping.
