Mike Lownes born in 1918
Healdsburg native Manuel “Mike” Lownes was born on July 14, 1918 at 7:45 a.m. and he weighed seven pounds, eight ounces.
That information comes out readily in a conversation with Lownes, still sharp and spry at 100. “I went to school in Mill Creek, from 1925 to 1935 and Healdsburg High School from 1935 to 1937.”
Before he graduated high school, Lownes met A.W. Garrett, the owner of Garrett Hardware, which was then located on Matheson Street, across the street from the downtown plaza.
“I met old man Garrett when there were still hitching posts around the Plaza,” Lownes said. “I worked at Garrett’s cutting asbestos for stove boards, climbing ladders to get things off the high shelves and in 1939, became a plumber with Garrett’s.”
Lownes has outlived three wives and three bouts of cancer, and it was in the 1940s that his first wife died.
“She drank Coca-Coal back when it was bad for you. She didn’t feel good so I took her to the hospital.”
Lownes spent the next couple of days on a plumbing job in the Dry Creek Valley and when he came back to see his wife at the hospital, “they told me she was gone.”
That was in 1944 and Lownes’ father died the following year. “I buried my wife and then my dad,” he said.
After originally ignoring letters from the induction board, Lownes reported for military induction in Sacramento in 1945. He was assigned to Fort Lewis in the state of Washington and served for a year before being honorably discharged.
For the following decades, Lownes worked at jobs that required capable hands, a quick mind and a strong back. He worked at a dairy “out back of Fitch Mountain,” continued as a plumber and eventually got a job with the city of Healdsburg.
“Waldo Iversen had me come to work for him,” Lownes said, noting that he retired in 1977 after 10 years with the city public works department.
While he worked in Healdsburg, Lownes lived in rural areas around the community, but also owned a home on Limerick Lane and another on Tucker Street.
When he retired, Lownes bought a single wide mobile home in Windsor, where he’s lived ever since. “I used to do odd jobs at the park, but now I’m too old, so I exercise at the senior center.”
On Friday, July 13, Lownes was at the Windsor Senior Center, for the fourth of five birthday parties. Windsor Mayor Bruce Okrepkie was there to present Lownes a proclamation acknowledging his 100th birthday, his friends were sharing cake and he was reminiscing about belonging.
“I’ve been 60 years a member of the American Legion, 70 years with the Odd Fellows Lodge (first in Healdsburg, then in Windsor) and 57 years with the 40 & 8 (an organization of veterans based on patriotism and charity). I’m a life member in all of them.”
Lownes continued: “I’ve buried three wives, three brothers and my parents.”
Asked why he’s lived so long and is still nimbly climbing the steps to his mobile home, Lownes shrugged. “I talk to the Lord every night and I thank him for taking care of my children and grandchildren and for getting me this far.”
Lownes is active at the senior center and credits a movement class at the center with helping him stay fit. “I was having some trouble and I started taking classes on Tuesdays and Fridays and now I can stoop over and touch my toes,” he said.
A few minutes later, he proved his claim. On his way out of the senior center after a birthday party in his honor, he dropped the proclamation that the Town of Windsor had given him. He stooped over and picked it up.
