After more than a century of being alive, Loren Wade is still punching a clock.
Earlier this week, the long-time Walmart employee celebrated his 103rd birthday with friends, family and coworkers at a party.
The Air Force and World War II veteran gave retirement a try during his 60’s, but it didn’t take long before he grew bored and opted to continue working, the centenarian told NBC’s “Weekend TODAY” in a recent interview. After landing a job with Walmart back in 1983, he still works five day a week at a the location in his hometown of Winfield, Kansas.
Greeting customers, watering plants and running the cash registers are among Wade’s daily tasks, but his time at Walmart seems to have been viewed as far from ordinary.
“I think the man’s here 24/7,” one customer told TODAY. “He just belongs here. It is his life, and he is ours.”
Having only left Winfield to serve in the Air Force during World War II, Wade is “somewhat of a fixture” in the town, even receiving a call from former Kansas senator Bob Dole during his birthday party.
In celebration of Wade’s big day and in honor of his time in the Air Force, Wal-Mart is donating $125,000 to the Friends of the National World War II Memorial.
“I appreciate getting to be old and being recognized, but like I say, I’m still just a normal human being,” Wade said on TODAY. “I just happen to have been lucky enough to still be here.”
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