ST. GEORGE — Howard Putnam turns 100 on July 18, and no one is less impressed about it than he is.
“No big deal to me. I think it’s for the birds,” Putnam told St. George News at his home in Pine Valley Friday afternoon.
What’s his secret for a long life?
“Well I don’t know,” he said. “As far as my personal life is concerned I’ve always been fairly religiously oriented.”
Putnam’s family has three days of events planned to celebrate his centennial birthday, which he thinks might be a bit of a brouhaha.
“I’d like to find a big pine tree and hide,” he said. “But, I guess I have to appear and be part of it. As I understand it, once you turn a hundred, that’s the end of your birthdays. You don’t have to worry anymore about birthdays, so that one thing is good.”
Putnam’s wife Mary Esther said that one of her best girlfriends has never shaken hands with someone who is 100 years old.
“So that’s part of the reason for the party,” she said.
And of course, to celebrate a long and well-lived life.
Putnam can claim many titles over the course of his 100 years: military veteran, music teacher, singer extraordinaire, choir director, husband, father, dog lover.
Putnam was born in what he called “the little cow town” of Woodruff, Utah, on the northeast corner of the state near the Wyoming border.
He volunteered for military service in World War II, moving around from North Africa to England and crossing the Atlantic Ocean twice as a member of the Military Escort Guard. His primary responsibility was guarding German prisoners of war.
Then in England during the build-up to D-Day, Putnam was injured in an automobile accident and was sent home.
After his military service, Putnam went on a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the eastern states of America.
Next he went to Brigham Young University and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music education.
Along with his first wife Martine and their children, the family moved to St. George in 1957 so he could teach music at what was then called Dixie Junior College (that has since become Utah Tech).
The family moved to the Moapa Valley in Overton, Nevada, for four years before coming back to St. George, where he remained a music teacher at Dixie JC until his retirement.
Putnam and Martine served an LDS mission together in Nauvoo, Illinois, before Martine died in 1996. He married Mary Esther, who also lost her first spouse, in 1998.
“We decided our spouses got together in heaven and said, ‘They’re lonely, they need to get together,’” Mary Esther said.
Mary Esther is a direct descendant of Pine Valley pioneer Robert Gardner, who settled the town and sawed the wood that was used to build the historic Tabernacle building in St. George, where he also served as a Bishop.
She grew up in Pine Valley and was eventually deeded the land upon which the house sits where she and Putnam live.
Mary Esther credited Putnam’s long life to being active and walking their dog every day, until age made mobility a little too difficult.
“I think attitude determines your altitude,” Mary Esther said. “It takes a lot more effort to be grumpy than it does to be nice.”
Added Putnam: “I would agree with that. Thanks be to her, she keeps me on the higher level in every way.”
Putnam served a third LDS mission, this one with Mary Esther, in Russia.
After that, it was retirement and life in Pine Valley, filled with music at their local church and with family activities.
Putnam had nine children from his first marriage, seven of whom are still living. Mary Esther also had seven children from her first marriage and she said she expects to see them all over the course of the birthday celebrations.
Festivities begin Sunday, July 16, Mary Ester said, with a “Linger Longer” event after church services at the Pine Valley Church.
“As people walk out of the second hour of church, he’ll be sitting on the lawn if they want to wish him happy birthday,” she said. “And we’re going to hand out ice cream.”
On Monday, July 17, all the children and their children will have a steak dinner with Putnam.
Tuesday, July 18, is the big day — the Putnams host a birthday picnic at their home.
“We’re having whoever from wherever wants to come,” Mary Esther said. “We’ll be having finger foods and hot dogs and we’ll visit and tell stories.”
She added that they’ll have a couple of golf carts to help people get to the party because there will surely not be enough parking.
Putnam said his faith and church service are the factors that fueled his long and happy life.
“I think that’s really the crux of where I am now … is because I was raised in a home where family prayer was practiced every night and morning,” he said. “There was no consumption of any kind of food or drink that would tend to injure the body. It became a standard part of our family life and my personal life with family as well.”
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