By Robert R. Schwarz
Aging is one of the most essential
human processes, one that can be
dismissed only with great harm.
Every aging man and woman
has a unique opportunity to
enrich the quality of life of others.
(Henri J.M. Nouwen and Wallter
Gaffney from their book "Aging")
This interview was posted September 18, 2022.
Mr. Hahn died on Feb. 2, 2023
An Rx for a Good Life
From a 94-Year-Old
I wanted to know more about Jim Hahn when I saw his car’s license plate reading “Mother of 10. “ When we finally got together , he told me,that that he would be 98 in two months, that he lives alone, keeps a tidy house without a cleaning lady, and that his nine children (one died in child birth) live near his home in Arlington Heights, Illinois. “They visit me all the time , and sometimes I cook a meal for them,“ he said with gusto—a favorite word of his. The Hahn family now includes 26 grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren. Jim’s wife Joan died 14 years ago at age 83; he says he still misses her “very much.” He voted for Franklin Delano Roosevelt but turned Republican soon after that. Jim served in the U.S. Navy during most of World War II.
When four years ago I asked him about his health, he chuckled and replied: "I just passed my driver's test ." Admitting to a "little heart problem, " he added, but I guess everyone does ." He was taking a blood thinner, but no vitamins. As for exercise , he said, "I keep my limbs moving by climbing up and down stairs. I must have climbed those steps twenty-five times yesterday. My only concern is I might fall and become dependent on my children. Then what?" To cope with any fears or stresses, reminds himself with "God will handle it. "
Jim cooks occasionally in his kitchen for family members . His favorite dish is minestrone soup. He says he never eats out , but on this night his daughter and her husband were taking him out to dinner at the Pita Inn. "I'm going to order lentil soup and French fries, " he said smiling. His family includes daughters Mary—a project manager for Abbot Laboratories—and Jean, a housewife ; sons Nicholas , a retired United Airlines reservation agent living with his wife in the Philippines; Jim , a published author; Tom, a retired registered nurse; Peter, a retired supervisor of a country club; Daniel, a landscaper ; Anthony, an arborist ; and his deacon son , Matt .
At this point in our interview, Jim looked at the book cover of "Unbroken " and said, "I learned about forgiveness from my family." He then recalled how he has learned to forgive some builders and retailers whom, he claims , have cheated him.
For fun during summers, Jim plays golf at an Arlington Heights golf course. " From ages 70 to 75 I had the lowest handicap in my group , " he recalls. Movies are not on his fun list nor is watching television. "Too many commercials," he says.
Jim was raised in a bungalow on Chicago's North Side ( Belmont and Central avenues ) , where his father and mother started a tool and die-making business in their basement. " I learned my trade from my father, " he said.
Our conversation was in the living room of his home, a two-floor house with cedar shingles painted greenish gray; it sits on a corner in a quiet residential neighborhood of tidy lawns with abundant, well-pruned shrubs and trees. The outside porch faces a sidewalk on which neighbors walk small dogs, most of which haven’t been trained to “heel” by their master. On the porch is a bench where Jim and Joan often held hands on summer nights.
During our conversations , Jim always appeared to know exactly what he wanted to say, without a tone of vanity.
Bob: Jim, how does it feel to be almost 98?
Jim: I feel pretty good, I’m playing golf tomorrow...nine holes. My daughter and one of my sons play with me. She’s pretty good at it, too. I taught her how to play, and she beats me once in a while. We don’t bother with handicaps.
Bob: Can I ask how your heath is? (For the past year, he’s used a cane.)
Jim: I go to the doctor once in a while. My heart is working pretty good. I
take six different meds. It keeps me going. But I’ve had sore legs now for 11
years. The doctor said my veins don’t pump blood good any more.
(Jim rises every morning at 4:30 and seizes the day by saying this prayer learned in Catholic grammar school: My God, I offer you this day all that I do or think or say, uniting it with what was done on earth by Jesus Christ, your son." His favorite prayer is the Lord’s Prayer. After breakfast, his daughter Mary picks him up and drives him to the St. James Catholic Church in Arlington Heights for the 7:30 a.m. weekday mass. He often tells himself that he’s in God's hands. Jim’s son Matthew is a St. James deacon and sometimes shares the altar with the pastor.)
Bob: You like to stay active, right Jim ?
Jim: Yeah. I’m pretty active. I work in the yard on some flowers. I still refinish some of my furniture. ( We both glanced at a nearby rocking chair—circa 1897—which Jim’s grandfather gave as a gift to his grandmother. I’m reading a book by Ernie Pyle ( the war correspondent ) . I have a picture of where he was killed. Right in a foxhole . When he got up that time--bingo!--a sniper’s bullet got him right in his head!
Soon after World War II broke out, Jim was admitted to the Naval officers training school at the prestigious Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. The school was near the home of his girl friend, Joan, who would soon be Jim's wife. His officer training was continued at DePauw University in Indiana and then at Duke University, where he was to earn the rank of midshipman. But when Jim learned that two of his friends had been killed in the infamous Battle of the Bulge, he asked himself: Do I want to spend the rest of the war in school or do I want to go and fight?
He requested to be transferred to the Pacific Fleet. Soon Jim was an 18-year-old Seabee with the rank of machinist mate 3rd class and unloading ships in the war zone in the Aleutian Islands off Alaska. The islands, Jim reminded me, were then under threat of an invasion by the Japanese military.
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Jim later wound up at Okinawa, where, history tells us, was the worse battle of the war. On this island, amidst bombing by Kamikaze [ suicide] pilots , Jim drove a truck and managed a carpenter's shop for the U.S. Marine Corps' lst Division. After the war, Jim returned to Northwestern University to apply the skills he had learned as a youngster in his family's basement. The university hired him to teach PhD candidates how to make machine and scientific tools. It was a discipline he taught his students for the next 46 years.
Today Jim recalls that when he came out of the Navy, times were tough because there was no manufacturing, no economy. One couldn't buy a stove, a car, or refrigerator, he said. The Hahn family had to work long hours to cope, Jim recalled. The family was living in Chicago, where people—Irish, Polish and Italian—were struggling to pay living expenses. But after three years, several of these family members were making money as machinists, Jim explained.
Bob: Any challenges nowadays, Jim?
Jim: Well, the thing is this: I don’t walk down the basement stairs very often alone, that is. And I keep my telephone with me all the time .
Bob : Let me ask, what about your faith today.
Jim: Sure. I’ve been going to Mass every day since my wife and I were married in 1946. We were married in a Catholic church.
(Jim remains silent for a long moment)
Jim: I traveled all over the world in the Navy. This is the greatest country that ever existed. It’s a democracy. It’s run by the people. We put people in office in office and we take them out of office.
Bob: You, my friend, sound like a man at peace with himself.
Jim: Yeah. I get up in the morning, and, in life, my wife used to say: You put one foot in the front of the other and you start moving—with gusto.
for more than 60 years
With a grandchild, one of his 26
And what might Jim Hahn like to be remembered for ? " A man who worked well, never doing work half-way…I did something good by working at Northwestern for 46 years. "
The End
Next Sunday, May 5:
Another Soul-Inspiring Interview
comments welcomed rrschwarz777@gmail.com
© 2020, 2022, 2024 Robert R. Schwarz
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