"I'm 100 years and five months old," said Stanley Ulewicz, extremely articulate and physically active as he pushed his walker on wheels down the hall at the Brian Center in Brevard. Practically running, and weaving his way through the human traffic in his path, he led the way to the room he shared with his wife, Virginia. Keeping up with him was a matter of walking at top speed! Ulewicz was in a hurry to show the many family photos on his walls that told the story of the most memorable moments in his life. It has been an extremely interesting life which exemplifies the American dream that you can succeed in life through a strong work ethic and careful planning, no matter what your start in life may have been. Born in March of 1908 to a Polish and Ukrainian immigrant family in New Bedford, Massachusetts, which is near the base of Cape Cod, he came from humble beginnings. Ulewicz proudly showed a picture of himself at age one in 1909, sitting on the porch in an antique chair. He explained how a passing photographer, driving a horse and cart, asked his mother for permission to take that memorable shot. The Ulewicz family worked in the weaving mills in New Bedford, which were the primary source for production work at the time in Massachusetts. His wedding picture, taken over 70 years ago, and another photo that showed a young Ulewicz, his wife Virginia and his daughter, plus his mother and dad and aunt were other prize possessions. According to Sue Robinson, Director of the Brian Center, members of the staff had brought these pictures from is home to decorate his room and make it more home-like for Ulewicz and his wife. Proudly displayed was a picture of his eight grade graduation class in New Bedford, Massachusetts; for that was the end of Stanley's public education at that time. However, he went on to higher education later in his life, as he had been blessed with a sharp mind which could easily comprehend more advanced learning. After his eight grade graduation, his family moved to the Detroit area of Michigan, along with many other hard-working Polish immigrants, where the industrial automotive complex was just starting to expand. "They didn't fuss much about your age at that time; and although I was only 14 years old, I was hired as a machinist when I told them I was 17. I was thrilled because I was making 13 cents an hour, It was during that time that I met my wife to be, Virginia. At first, I was friends with her younger sister, but when I met Virginia there was a spark that we both felt She was working as a housekeeper for a family; and we felt that we could get married on the amount of pay I was receiving by living frugally" said Ulewicz. So, they got married! But, then came the stock market crash of 1929 and the start of the Great Depression, which lasted for ten years. At that time, he was working on production as a machinist in a little plant and one entire line was laid off. Ulewicz happened to be part of that line; and, unfortunately, during that depressed period there were just no jobs to be had. So, he started working as a golf caddy at the Oakland Hills Country Club north of Detroit, one of the most prestigious golf courses in the region; often carrying both bags for a twosome. On Mondays, it is traditional for the caddies to play free golf at most of the courses around Detroit and Ulewicz loved the game, so he played. He became quite proficient at it, and gained great personal knowledge of the course. There was one customer he caddied for who appreciated his knowledge of the course and always requested that he caddy for him. A friendship developed and the man helped him get a job on the production line at the Dodge Truck Plant of Chrysler Corporation. During that period, Chrysler Corporation had a technical school called The Chrysler Institute and Ulewicz took advantage of their courses to improve his education and his automotive technical skills. Always having been proficient in math, he readily took to Drafting Engineering. Studying the parts of the trucks he was drawing, he became knowledgeable of how the various parts of the trucks were related to each other and how they were put together to become the finished automobile. His frequent requests to be taken off hourly work and put on salary, however, kept falling on deaf ears; but he persisted in his efforts to win that goal. It was probably lucky that he wasn't put on salary, because later being an hourly worker paid off handsomely for extra hours of labor. One of the problems at that time was that all the trucks came off the production line in the same form and it was necessary to later put the extra components on the truck that the customer had ordered to customize it to his needs. One time, Ulewicz noticed that twenty trucks were completed, which then had to be changed in order to meet the specifications of one buyer. He felt that the customized features should have been put on the trucks as they were originally being produced, and said so to higher authorities. The management gave him the job of altering the assembly so needed changes could be incorporated during original production, and Ulewicz moved up the ladder in the company. He kept getting small raises as he diligently worked as many hours as he could. Meanwhile, he and his wife were living on the income he was bringing home and saving as much money as possible. When the UAW (United Auto Workers)came along, with its drive for unionization of the automotive industry in Detroit, Ulewicz was part of the first "sit-down" strike (where the workers just camped night and day inside the plant instead of picketing outside of the plant.) The strikers won the day, and Ulewicz was soon being paid time-and-a-half for overtime and double-time for Sundays and Holiday work. With his strong work ethic and his desire to get ahead, he kept putting in as much overtime and double-time work as possible; saving and getting Chrysler stock whenever he could. "When I retired, I had quite a bit of Chrysler stock, which I immediately sold at $65.00 dollars a share. I think that was in 1965. That was lucky for me, as the stock dropped to $3.00 per share after I sold it!" said Ulewicz. "At that time, Virginia and I had a house in Detroit and another summer place in the country, between two lakes north of Detroit. It was just a little shack when we bought it, but it was on 30 acres of land which became quite valuable. One of the lakes was 60 ft. deep and had good fishing. We worked hard to enlarge and improve the house, enlarging it and putting redwood siding on it and it got to be worth more by quite a bit. "Then, we bought a small winter get-away in Texas, close to the Mexican border, where we would go in the winter. We also bought a travel trailer and we would take trips, going about 100 miles northward at a time, following better weather. When it got too hot in Texas or Arizona, we would just drive northward as we made our way back to Michigan." said Ulewicz. They traveled over much of the United States this way, went on bus tours and cruises and generally enjoyed life. When he was about eighty years old, they figured that having several places was too much upkeep and they decided to sell them and look for one retirement place to settle down. They felt that Florida was too hot in the summer time for them to consider long-term. So, they started reading a lot of information about retiring and the different areas that were most suitable. It was at that time they came upon material about the mountains of Southwestern North Carolina. They first visited Hendersonville, which at that time had a lot of empty property in the downtown area but no senior communities with golf courses and lots of activities. They then tried out Asheville, but found about the same situation there. They had a real estate broker show them some places in Brevard. The city had about 6,000 people at the time and they both enjoyed the area, the climate, and the friendliness of the people. They looked at Connestee Falls and Sherwood Forest, but felt they were too far from town. They looked at Deerfield and were impressed, but still not convinced. When they visited Waterford Place they immediately knew that they had, at last, found the exact location they had been searching to find. "One time, we went to Bermuda and I took my first airplane ride, leaving from the Charlotte airport. The flight back from Bermuda was only about one hour long, but we had to fly through a terrible storm. Twice, the pilot had to make steep downward falls in order to get away from the bad weather and I didn't enjoy the trip on the airplane, at all," remarked Ulewicz. Unfortunately, Virginia has been incapacitated with Alzheimer's and is in declining health. They share a room at the Brian Center and spend their time there together. Ulewicz is still interested in current affairs and political goings on and is very well informed. He is especially interested in golf, of course, and the professional golf tournaments. He was following the current golf tournament carefully because it was being played at the Oakland Hills course in Michigan, which he knows so well. He showed a keen interest in the golfing abilities of Tiger Woods and could describe in great detail many of the miraculous shots that Tiger had pulled off in various tournaments, recalling the circumstances of each shot, the distance to the hole, and the results. His memory is remarkable in someone over 100 years and he is in exceptional good health for his age. The Brian Center helped him celebrate his 100th birthday last March with a party and a big cake. He remains spry with an active mind and is very articulate. "People are always asking me what the secret is to my living to be 100 years old. I tell them it was from having lived an active life, working hard, and keeping interested in many different things. I was always on the go, always involved, and kept active over all those years," concluded Stanley Ulewicz at 100 years and five months. Lorraine Miller
