Prescriptions for living your best life

From someone who really has!

Pick up almost any women’s magazine and you are bound to find an article about how to ‘live your best life.’ In fact there are plenty of men’s magazines dishing out the same type of advice.

Heck, I think I’ve even written a blog or two myself on the topic. But have you ever stopped to wonder, that if the person writing the article is in their 20’s, 30’s or 40’s… do they/we truly have ANY idea what it REALLY means to have lived our best lives? I mean really... let’s be honest… at those ages most of us are still trying to figure it all out!

That’s one reason I enjoy meeting and talking to those in what for all practical purposes is the last chapter. I sometimes call it ‘The Third Third.' After all a breakdown like 30 - 30 - 30 is pretty much the best we can all hope for.

John T. Jans through the years/Courtesy: Bruce Jans

I recently had the pleasure of spending time with a man who is in that final third. When I first talked with John T. Jans he was 96 and a half years old (he was adamant about the ‘half’ part). And for good reason.

Mr. Jans celebrated his 97th birthday August 8, 2021. WOW - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Life's journey

Born in 1924, Jans says he wanted to be an engineer from as early as six years old. He recalls the panic over the arrival of the year 2000 and fears that Y2K would cripple computer and tech systems. He laughed when recalling those moments and when nothing bad happened that day...his reaction? He watched football.

Jans pretty much blows away most stereotypes about aging and those living well into their 90’s. He is strong, quick witted, has a quirky sense of humor (he threw some zingers at his son during our interview, laughed quite a bit and had a smile most of the time) and manages to get around fairly well.

Check out the video… and see how he navigates a flight of stairs!

He does need a bit of help though. Jans lives with his daughter and her family, and his son (my friend) is there when needed. We talked for quite a while about his life journey, career, love and loss and how to truly live your best life.

John & Bruce Jans/ Courtesy: Bruce Jans

Living a best life

*This interview has been edited for clarity*

Me: Does it ever cross your mind of how much you’ve seen in your life?

John: Well, my memory is excellent. I can tell you the Detroit Tigers’ line-up in 1934 and who won what football games. Unfortunately I remember the games we lost better than the ones we won. (chuckles) My memory is good. I can remember a lot of stuff.

Me: When you think back over you life what strikes you most about this thing we call life and events around us?

John: The world. I never really considered those things, I just listened to the news. I grew up in a very Jewish area and so most of my classmates in grade school and high school were Jewish and I knew that Hitler was really a bad guy in 1933 before the US really decide that he WAS a bad guy. But all my Jewish friends knew it and I listened to them. And they pretty-well convinced me that we’re going to have to fight a war to beat that guy. He was a bad guy!

John T. Jans/Courtesy: Bruce Jans

Me: Your work as an engineer… you are responsible for some of the early television viewing?

John: I came back after the war and did my last year at Michigan and graduated. My first job was at Sylvania with picture tubes. The engineering part was early on and that was in Seneca Falls when they first started making television picture tubes and I was there right from the start. I really enjoyed that.

Me: What do you make of today’s technology?

John: I came along too soon. I was into the picture tubes. I have a lot of confidence that a lot of things will come along. Engineers are well known to be nice intelligent good people, just ask (He said this with a big smile and chuckle). Ask an engineer he’ll tell you! There are a lot of good things coming!

For instance, I was in television way before color came. And we were starting to develop…well, we took the RCA tube and licensed it and built the shadow mast tube that RCA developed. I sent my wife and family off to Detroit for a weekend so I could read the whole darn weekend about color television (laughing at the memory).

Me: Tell me a little about your wife?

John: Her name was Patricia. We were married almost 50 years. She died ten weeks too soon or she would have had a 50th Golden Anniversary.

Her part was that we have five wonderful kids. And her genes made my kids pretty decent people. Our kids are kind; they’re decent people. (I haven’t had to bail anybody out of jail or anything like that). And we got good kids so that’s pretty nice!

Me: 50 years is a long time. What was the secret; what advice do you have for others?

John: Find the right one. When you do that, it works out good. I knew she was the right one and she always was. We were similar. We didn’t get all excited over bad stuff.

Me: Do you miss her?

John: You bet. What I’ve done since she died… that’s now 20 years ago… I have had several lady friends. And they all died too, which is not very kind of them. Maybe it’s me that does that? I hope not, but it just works out that way.

Courtesy: Bruce Jans

Me: How do you cope with such loss?

John: Well, I don’t know where I picked it up… I may have invented it myself but I don’t think so. Remember the good stuff and when you do, there may be a tear or two but you’ll end up with a smile because it’s good stuff. When I talk about my wife I’m smiling and the same is true of the people I’ve known. I’m smiling because I’m thinking of the good stuff. It works out very well.

Me: Are you looking forward to reaching 100?

John: I’m gonna make 100 and I hope I can. You never know. I could get hit by a truck tomorrow (chuckles) but I’m pretty healthy. I ate all those damned vegetables and the world owes me a lot of desserts! When I turn 100, I’m going to have a party!

But I’m not worrying about it very much. If it happens it happens and if it doesn’t happen, I’ve had a long and very good life and with a lot of family that I like - which ain’t bad. (Big smile).

Birthday greetings

Happy Birthday John Jans! A toast… to celebrating a life well-lived.

If you would like to extend a birthday message to Mr. Jans, feel free. I will make sure to pass them along.

Join the conversation and post here in the comment section and be sure to SUBSCRIBE to stay in the mix of KIRC updates.

Something tells me the elder Jans will get a kick out of the birthday gestures!

Until next time - Ciao~