Santa Cruz Loses 107 Year Harold J. van Gorder
One Hundred and Seven Year Old Loved Birthday Parties
Jun 22, 2009
He lived in Santa Cruz County, CA for 104 of them, but sadly, this year, sons Judd van Gorder and Joel van Gorder and their families will not be able to deliver their Father’s Day wishes.
Harold Van Gorder’s family moved here from Knoxville, Iowa in 1905. He is the oldest living graduate from Santa Cruz High class of 1921, where he was editor of the school newspaper and participated in basketball, track and field. It was there he met wife-to-be Verel Shannon, a 3rd generation Santa Cruzan.
They married in 1925 and he continued to live in the house on Walnut that he and his late wife Verel built that year. He was employed for the next five years as a chemist for his father-in-law, Harry Shannon at the family cleaning business.
A Healthy Lifestyle
In later years, caregiver Hanny Sparks home-managed Harold’s days and nights and says that he loved to have visitors and thrived on social situations. She saw to it that he stayed on a daily routine, arising and retiring at the same time each day. In the morning he had a small breakfast of cereal and fruit and then read the newspaper. Lunch and dinner were simple but healthy meals. Harold never talked during his meal, eating was considered serious business and he was known to say, “I eat what’s put in front of me.”
Favorite Ways to Spend the Day
Sometimes they went for a drive around town and stopped for ice cream at Dairy Queen. Harold loved dessert, but was only allowed to have it once a day. For most of his years he only took two low-dose medications along with a multi-vitamin and vitamin C, rare for a person of his age.
The highlight of Harold’s day was watching “Wheel of Fortune” and “Jeopardy,” and this is possibly what helped contribute to keeping his mind active. He also enjoyed the History, Travel and Discovery Channels and if none of these programs were on, he would let Hanny choose, and then joined her in watching whatever she enjoyed. She says that’s how she knew he loved her.
Friends Remember Harold
Stan Stevens, retired UCSC librarian, recalled work that Harold did as a volunteer at the library identifying historic photographs. “The library has his 1995 autobiography ‘Now and Then,’ a privately printed compilation of van Gorder’s writings,” he said.
Jack Hanson, a former conductor for Santa Cruz Big Trees Railway in Felton, warmly remembers the time that Harold rode on the Roaring Camp train. “He made it a point to introduce himself and invited me to his home to see his train photo collection. I stayed for hours!” Hanson relates that several books, including “California Central Coast Railroads” include photos from Harold’s collection.
Birthday Celebration Number 105
At his 105th party, Harold sat center stage at lunch and said, “I’m so pleased to have so many here that are dear to me. I miss the friends who are no longer with us.” Then he got down to the serious business of eating all of his dinner, every bite. That way, he knew that he’d be allowed to have birthday cake.
Harold was known to enjoy reciting works from famous authors. At the party he was asked to quote Shakespeare and after only a moment’s hesitation, launched into a lengthy passage from Hamlet.
At the end of the meal, when presented with his cake, he said, “It’s just a beautiful cake and I thank you. I never thought I would last as long as I have. I’m overwhelmed.” With that, he blew out his single candle while family and friends sang “Happy Birthday.”
This writer, while there to write a local newspaper story about his celebration, thanked him for sharing his birthday celebration. Bidding farewell with a kiss on the hand he quipped, “Tell some good lies about me!”
Related story about Harold van Gorder's death in the Santa Cruz Sentinel
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