John Ostertag remembers his grandfather well — “a sturdy, hard-headed German” and how he absolutely forbade his son from learning to be an auto mechanic. At the time, his grandfather and father were blacksmiths by trade, living in Atchison, Kan.

“Automobiles are a fad. They will never make it,’” Mr. Ostertag remembers his grandfather saying. “But he lived long enough to see himself wrong.”

Just like his grandfather, who retired as a blacksmith at 85 and lived to be 93, Mr. Ostertag has witnessed major changes since his birth, which as of July 26 of this year was 100 years ago.

He remembers plenty: His first job, at age 10, shooing flies off of horse legs while his father fitted the horses with shoes; the two-mile walk to grade school and even further to high school; and how it was 118 degrees the day he got the license to marry his wife, Enid, in July of 1933.

“Back in 1933, it was the beginning of the drought,” he says. “On the day we got married, I’m sure it was 110 and there were no fans or air conditioners. It was hot, hot, hot. 1934 was even worse.”

Unlike most of his contemporaries who have lived to be 100, his wife is still with him after 76 years of marriage, and she also celebrated her 100th birthday this year.

Their secret? It’s not a Spartan life of diet and exercise, they say.

“I never exercised in any way, shape or form,” Enid says.

And Enid has long been known for the wonderful pies she makes, although she doesn’t cook anymore.

They’ve certainly had their share of hardship, especially in the early days. When they first got married, they lived on $25 a week. When she got pregnant, it cost $10 for the delivery, $25 for the doctor, and a dollar for the circumcision, which was a lot of money at the time. Insurance was unheard of in those days.

The worst times, they say, were during World War II, when they were separated for 10 months and Mr. Ostertag went off to war.

“I was with three little kids,” she remembers. “He got $50 a month and sent me $45 of it.”

She was worried he would not make it back and still has all the letters he wrote.

But he did and they would have two more children, 15 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. They moved to St. Joseph in 1959 into a house where they still reside with help from their children and their church family at Brookdale Presbyterian. And after all these years, they still enjoy being with each other, which may be the secret to it all.

“I used to sell insurance and would visit newlyweds,” Mr. Ostertag says. “I’d tell the husband, ‘My experience is you are going to have to give 90 percent of your will to your wife, and I would tell her ‘That goes for you, too.’ It’s give and take. And whatever you do, don’t get mad at the same time.”

Lifestyles reporter Sylvia Anderson may be reached

at sylviaanderson@npgco.com.