For Loveland’s Jim Bair, turning 100 on Sunday was just another event in what he would describe as a perfect life.
The Michigan native turned Lovelander served in the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1943 as an aviation gunner during World War II. Upon returning home from service in Hawaii and Guam, he worked for the Flint Fire Department in Michigan where he went from a driver to a battalion chief over two decades. In retirement, he became a commercial fisherman in Florida before moving to Loveland in 2013 with his late wife, Marian, to be closer to family. He has four children: Diane Bartok, Cheryl Darnell, Marsha Lindsay and Jim Bair Jr.
He said Marian Bair “went wherever I went” and “never complained.” The couple was married for 73 years before she died in 2019.
“We did everything together,” Bair said. “I am so grateful.”
The Reporter-Herald sat down with Bair and a few of his children Thursday to talk about reaching the 100-year milestone and serving his country.
1. What was it like to serve in World War II?
“I was on a B-29 (four engine heavy bomber designed by Boeing for use in World War II) and we crashed it twice. The co-pilot didn’t check the wheels and couldn’t get them down, so he said, ‘You can either jump or use the parachute.’ I thought to myself, ‘Well, I have been sitting on this parachute for four months.’ I said no.”
Bartok chimed in on the story, which she said he has told many times. She said that her father would describe “stuff flying off the plane” and said that his reaction to the experience was: “Wow, this is somethin’.”
2. What is your favorite memory?
World War II veteran Jim Bair reminisces about his long life Friday at his home, Brookdale Mariana Butte in Loveland. (Jenny Sparks/Loveland Reporter-Herald)
“I fished out of the Gulf Stream (in Florida) for 30 years. One day, we caught 98 dolphinfish, and I swore I’d never do that again. It was windy for two weeks, but I wanted to go out on the boat, so me and my wife — she went where I went — went out, and the waves were as high as this room. I hooked up to a big dolphinfish, and she would have gone overboard if she hadn’t been holding onto the railing.
“She used to say, ‘If I fall overboard, I’m going to sink like a rock.’
“She was a wonderful lady, look at what she blessed me with (pointing at his children). I am so blessed.”
His son, Jim Bair Jr., said that he was his father’s “first mate” and that although sometimes he questioned his ability to bring the crew back home safely, he always did.
Jim Bair continued: “We stayed a week with another couple in Canada, and we would go out hunting, and the two ladies would stay in at the camp. It was cold, wet and miserable, but one night, she (Marian Bair) woke me up and said, ‘There’s a bear near the fire.’ I grabbed my rifle, went to the door, and I figured out there was a mouse making noises by the fire.”
3. You might be the oldest veteran in Loveland, how does that make you feel?
“God wants me to do something and maybe I have already done it. I am so grateful.
“When I came home from the service on furlough, I went to church. I didn’t normally go to church. I didn’t know anything about it, and after church was over, my future wife’s mother yelled to me, ‘Wouldn’t you like to have Jesus in your life?’ My whole life changed.
“I’ve been all over, and I’ve done everything I wanted to do.”
4. To his children: What is a fun memory with your father?
Bartok: “He mounted them all (his moose and caribou heads/horns) and put them in a family room that we had in Michigan. One year we decided, we’re going to decorate them for Christmas. So we put little balls on them. It was brilliant until my dad came home and he went, ‘No!’ ”
Jim Bair: “They knew I wouldn’t be mad.”
5. What advice do you have for others who want to make it to 100 years?
“Probably not to get into the service.” (Jim Bair smiled and laughed). “But I would go back if I could walk. I’d do it all over again.”
“I tried to think about what I would say today, but there isn’t a thing I would change. There are things I may want to do better, but God has always come first in my life.”
Happy 100th birthday, Jim Bair.