Centenarian: Brandy

keeps him young

Suess turns 100,

lives on farm

By FRITZ BUSCH

Journal Staff Writer

SLEEPY EYE -- George Suess turned 100 years old Thursday and enjoyed the day at his favorite haunt -- Schultz Cafe on Main Street.

Family and friends threw Suess several birthday parties at the cafe, sang "Happy Birthday," gave him a cake and gifts Thursday morning.

He cited several reasons for his longevity -- drinking brandy early and late in the day, eating "home cooked" breakfast and lunch at Schultz Cafe and living his entire life on a farm.

Suess' niece Donna of Northfield said George keeps a bottle of brandy under his bed, just like her grandfather did.

"I take some first thing in the morning and last thing at night," Suess said. "It's good for my blood."

Although slightly hard of hearing, he has a great sense of humor, has a quick wit and is quite spry.

Like clockwork, he slowly drives to town and can be found outside the front door of the cafe at 6 o'clock each morning, waiting for breakfast. After driving home, he returns for lunch later in the day.

If he isn't in the cafe first thing each morning and for the noon special, something is wrong and the Schultz crowd is alarmed. That was exactly what happened around Christmas 2001.

Suess wasn't in the cafe at his usual time. Friends found him on his basement floor. He had fallen down the steps of the farm house in which he lives. He spent nearly a week recovering at Sleepy Eye Municipal Hospital.

"They really take care of me," Suess said about his dining friends.

The county tried to talk him into an assisted-living situation recently, but officials eventually gave up after he kept insisting he wanted to stay on the farm.

"I was born on a farm, and I'm still out there yet. I've been living alone since August, 1964" (when his wife Ann died), Suess said. "Now I'm starting on my second 100 years."

His hobbies include gardening and driving to Sleepy Eye for his meals. Because the Schultz Cafe closes at 2 p.m., he eats supper at Hardee's in Sleepy Eye.

Talking about the "good, old days" is another favorite pastime. He remembers two cents per pound hog prices, eggs at six cents a dozen and gas for 15 cents per gallon.

"I could tell you a helluva lot of stories. It was tougher to farm back then. We used horses until the early '40s. Neighbors used to help and visit more often. If farmers needed to buy groceries, they would haul some grain to the elevator," George said. "Now, I don't know my neighbors."

Shortly after he bought his current farm in 1941, he built a new barn and hosted a dance. Some of his relatives and friends fondly remember the barn dance.

He doesn't watch much television, except for Minnesota Twins games occasionally.

"Too many naked women on television," he said.

Among his least-favorite moments was the winter of 1965 when he couldn't drive to Sleepy Eye to eat for several days because of the blowing and drifting snow.