101 birthdays — and counting

Even as a youngster, Darrell Ewing didn't spend much time inside.

On the go, hanging out with friends, he rarely was found indoors. It was a great place to grow up, the 101-year-old Bonners Ferry resident said at a party in his honor at Second Avenue Pizza on his birthday on Tuesday.

Several dozen people turned out for the party, from family to longtime friends, including his longtime dance partner Sally Sacht.

His days were spent on "normal kid stuff" — if you count riding down the flumes at the old mill to nearly drowning while rescuing a friend who had fallen through the ice playing hockey.

"You had pretty free rein to do almost anything you want as long as it was legal," Ewing said.

When he turned 19, he enlisted in the Army during World War II and was stationed in Antigua. He was assigned to the Army Corps of Engineers and became a heavy equipment operator.

After returning to Bonners Ferry, Ewing put the skills he learned in the Army to good use, working for most of the major lumber companies in the area until his retirement in 1965.

He would marry "the girl next door" in 1946 and he and his wife, Alice, raised three sons — Paul, Ken and Darrell Jr.

Darrell and Alice loved to dance and traveled throughout the region — as far north as Canada and as far east as Montana. After Alice passed away in 2010, Darrell continued to dance at the senior center, partnering with anyone interested. At one of the dances, Darrell spotted Sacht in the lobby, and before she could even take her coat off, asked her to dance.

They've been dancing together ever since.

After returning home, Ewing still spent most of his time outdoors, working in the woods and building roads. He had the chance, he said, to partner with his father-in-law at a clothing store he owned in Bonners Ferry but Ewing said he knew that wasn't for him.

"I told him I wanted to be outside, and I think that contributed to my age, too," he added.

That, and living a "pretty clean life," Ewing said, noting he has never smoked, only had a beer "now and then" and plenty of outdoor activity.

"I never sat still anywhere," he added.

Even now, he keeps busy with chores around the house and yard. If something needs to be fixed, he heads into his shop to take care of it. The only time he needed help was when a tornado struck near his Sandpoint home back in the 1970s.

He working on building a roof over his modular home — all the metal was down except for one sheet — when a friend of one of his sons stopped by and asked him to take a look at her car.

That was when the tornado struck, ripping off the roof and sending some of it into the lake. A metal shingle or two ended up more than a mile away at the golf course.

"It just came along and took the whole roof off," he added.

His advice to the "kids of today" is simple, Ewing said. "Live a clean life, stay away from cigarettes and alcohol, be honest and true and get an education."

"And work hard."

While he was born in Hunters, Wash., along the Columbia River, Ewing moved to Bonners Ferry with his family when he was 2.

"It's a pretty small place," Ewing said of the town his great-grandfather Richard Fry helped found. "It hasn't changed. It hasn't changed in forever. Nope, it's just older."

He then chuckles at the joke.

He lived in Bonners Ferry for much of his life until he moved to Sandpoint to a home where he still lives.

He said he's never wanted to live anywhere else, with the area having everything he needs.

"Never wanted to," Ewing said, then paused as a twinkle lit his eyes. "I did get as far as Colburn one time, though."