AKRON, Ohio – George "Lefty" Gray was born before the radio era. Now he's a celebrity on social media.
Gray, who turned 102 on April 20, is a regular contributor to Facebook by way of niece Debra Canale, who shares bits of his wit and wisdom on her page, www.facebook.com/deb.canale. Her Facebook friends have come to look forward to what she calls "Advice From Lefty," such as this recent post:
"I asked Lefty what advice he had for people who hoped to be as old as him one day. He said, 'How old am I?' '102,' I said. 'Well, who the hell wants to get that old?' "
Canale visits Gray and his 97-year-old wife, Helen, every Sunday at an assisted living center, where they moved after more than 60 years of living in the same Akron house. Canale prepares a question to get them talking and reminiscing, and she usually comes away with some gem from Gray's unfiltered and occasionally salty discourses.
He's sometimes poignant, sometimes wise and very often funny. For example, Gray was admiring his wife's newly curled hair. As Canale recalled it, "He looked at her and said, 'Helen, you look like you're 80.' "
Although he uses a wheelchair, he was still riding his three-wheel motorcycle when he was 96. He learned to drive at age 9, before licenses were required. "I knew which was left and which was right," he said. "That's all you needed to know."
As a youngster, he spent hours playing baseball with his friends, developing a pitching talent that landed him a spot on a Yankees farm team until he injured a shoulder. Later, he coached Little League and helped coach baseball as a volunteer at a high school.
Gray retired in 1968 from Seiberling Rubber Co., where he worked as an inspector. He still gets up at 4 a.m., a habit ingrained by years of early shifts.
It was at Seiberling that he met the former Helen Kepnes, whom he first spotted when she hiked up her skirt to climb onto another man's motorcycle. "I said, 'Ain't nothin' the matter with her,' " he recalled with a grin.
"Oh, Lefty," Helen replied with a smile. It's the way she often responds to his comments.
He proposed by simply declaring he'd marry her on a Wednesday, "I said, 'Dammit, Helen, you're always talking about getting married. I'm gonna give you one chance," he recalled. "If you don't show up, that'll be the last time I ever ask you."
They both were active. He spent time hunting and fishing, while she went bowling on Friday nights. They were regulars at a local ballroom and often walked to a nearby movie theater.
And they still love to laugh together, Canale said.
They have separate rooms at their facility, but Gray spends so much time in his wife's room that his family decorated it with some of his mementos, including a 70-year pin he got two years ago from the lodge to which he belongs.
Canale has shown him some of her Facebook posts, but said he doesn't entirely understand the social media site or his popularity among her friends.
But he doesn't object. You might say Canale is just following her uncle's advice about getting older.
"Stuff you like to do, you still do it — just not so much," he told her during a visit late last year. "Stuff you don't like, just don't do it anymore! Who can yell at you? Nobody!
"And if they do," he added, "I can't hear anyway."
