Carl Stern is a survivor. Whether it’s farming the land, selling chicken eggs or living to be 100 years old he has what it takes.
By:Julie Gartland
What does it take for someone to reach their 100th birthday as Mr. Stern did on Jan. 22?
"I don’t know why I’ve lived so long," he said, "I think someone is praying for me."
He may not know the answer, but his 48-year-old son, Bill, thinks part of it has to do with luck, and hopes another part has to do with heredity.
|
Mr. Stern has seen many changes in the area. He remembers a time when traveling by trolley from Princeton to Trenton took more than an hour because the trolley car stopped for every person. He remembers when the mill in Allentown was in operation and the Allentown Post Office was an automobile dealership. |
"He’s somebody who never went out of his way to take extra care of himself. He worked on the farm but never went jogging or took vitamins," the younger Mr. Stern said. "He just took care of himself without any extras."
While no one holds the key to the longevity of life, the Alliance for Aging Research claims the average person is born with a set of genes that would allow them to live to 85 years of age and maybe longer.
Surpassing that statistic and outliving his parents, a sister, three brothers, his wife and one son, Mr. Stern feels he has had a good life and has no regrets. "I would probably do everything the same again," he said.
Born in Germany in 1901, Mr. Stern was raised on a farm in Hamburg and farmed all his life until two years ago, when he suffered congestive heart failure.
In his still detectable German accent, Mr. Stern described the incident. "About two years ago I couldn’t breathe und they took me to the hospital. They fixed me up again und since then I’ve been in very good shape."
Mr. Stern has had rheumatism for 40 years and uses crutches to get around. Along with taking medications for his heart and rheumatism, Mr. Stern also is feeling the effects of aging in his eyesight and hearing.
When asked how he feels about seeing his 100th birthday, he responds with the simple, no-nonsense attitude that comes from living a long life.
"I don’t know how I feel. How should I feel? I feel all right. I have no serious problems so I feel very good."
At 100 years old, Bill Stern said it is a matter of his father facing milestones as each day comes.
"When you cross certain milestones in medicine where you have a problem like Pop did two years ago and the doctors put him back together again, then you go on until you have to cross another milestone," he said.
Mr. Stern moved from Germany to the United States with his parents in 1923, settling in Princeton. The Stern family worked on the Willow Gate Farm in Lawrence Township, where his father took care of 50 to 75 cows, before looking for land of their own to farm.
In 1932 Mr. Stern’s parents purchased 163 acres on Burlington Path Road in Upper Freehold Township.
Resourceful as many farmers had to be, the Sterns used different ways to earn income. Besides growing sweet corn, potatoes, tomatoes and grain, they raised 1,000 chickens to sell the eggs.
Mr. Stern did not believe in big farming.
"I believe in family farming to make a living," he said. "I did not farm for big money, but to survive."
"Farming wasn’t the big industry that it is today," explained Bill Stern. "You had a little bit of everything to bring in the income. Chickens were a good source of income because you could sell eggs every week. The price of eggs never went up from the ’60s and that’s why the small people quit," he said.
Tomatoes were Mr. Stern’s main money crop. "He cultivated 75 acres that’s a lot of tomatoes," his son said. Mr. Stern was the main cultivator of tomatoes in the area, selling to the Campbell Soup Company tomato processing plant in Camden until it closed in 1976.
He misses his wife, Anna (11 years younger than Mr. Stern), who passed away four years ago from a stroke.
"Naturally I miss her, that’s part of life," he said. "I think of her every day."
Anna Stern was his longtime friend, having been raised by Mr. Stern’s parents when her mother died from complications in childbirth. They were married in 1939 and raised seven children: Anna, 58, Albert, 57, Mary, 55, Carl (who died of cancer 1994 at the age of 53), Joe, 52, Dick, 51 and Bill, 48. All still remain in the area except Joe, who has a master’s degree in agriculture and moved to California as a plant breeder.
Mr. Stern’s perspective on raising seven children is simple.
"Well that’s the way it was und I couldn’t see it as any different. I can’t understand today people not having enough children you have no children, you have no future."
Mr. Stern has seen many changes in the area. He remembers a time when traveling by trolley from Princeton to Trenton took more than an hour because the trolley car stopped for every person. It didn’t run on a schedule or stop at specific spots, he said. He remembers when the mill in Allentown was in operation and the Allentown Post Office was an automobile dealership.
These days Mr. Stern spends much of his time reading books, newspapers and the Bible. He especially likes reading about farming history.
"I don’t watch television," he said. "It’s a waste of time.
With 100 years worth of memories stored in his mind, Mr. Stern said he is never bored. He always finds something interesting, even if it is sitting in his chair by the window watching the road.
"Sometimes I think of nothing and just watch the birds," he said.
Although he finds it difficult to put his wisdom of 100 years into words, his advice about living a good life is to follow the 10 Commandments.
"That is everything," he said.