'Just play it by ear'

Centenarian's advice: Find something that you enjoy

Centenarian farmer, retired electrictian and Airforce veteran Albin Linsenbardt stands with his wife, Jackie, in their Lohman farmhouse.
Centenarian farmer, retired electrictian and Airforce veteran Albin Linsenbardt stands with his wife, Jackie, in their Lohman farmhouse.

Lohman's Albin Linsenbardt has witnessed a century of progress and expansion. So what advice does the centenarian farmer, retired electrician and Army Air Corps veteran have to offer younger generations after 100 years of living and learning?

"Be honest, and do your own thing," he said. "If you don't like what you're doing, find something that you do enjoy."

Linsenbardt was born Dec. 21, 1917, in the age of the horse and buggy, survived the airborne turmoil of World War II, and now peacefully resides with his wife on the family farm as his great-grandchildren play with smartphones this holiday season.

He often wonders where the world is headed to next.

"I grew up in a horse and buggy generation, and now it's jet engines and rockets," he said. "(The other day), I saw some people were taking pictures with a phone, and I said, 'Whoever heard of taking pictures with a telephone?' Because when I was born, we were lucky to have a (landline) telephone."

Linsenbardt grew up in the home his carpenter father built in Lohman. After completing the eighth grade, he began working in construction but quickly decided to impart on a less strenuous career path.

"Back then, you mixed your own concrete. That was pretty hard work, and I decided there had to be an easier way," he said. "I'm sure (Dad) was probably disappointed, but he didn't say anything."

He studied to be an electrician in Chicago but only worked in this new field at his uncle's Jefferson City shop for two years before he was drafted into WWII. During basic training in May 1942, Linsenbardt volunteered to become an aircraft mechanic and put his electrical training to use.

He married Jackie while stationed in Florida and thought he would be able to remain with her until the war ended while maintaining aircraft used to train combat pilots.

"I thought, since I was in a training unit, I'd probably be there the rest of the war, but about a month after we got married, that's when I got shipped out. So that was wrong," he said with a chuckle.

Linsenbardt was sent overseas and eventually became a tech sergeant and crew chief among the first B-29 bombers to attack Japan from the island of Saipan. As he combated the enemy above Tokyo, his first son, Albin Jr., was born in Baltimore. An officer gifted him a bottle of whisky to celebrate with his crew, since enlisted men were only afforded beer.

"I passed that (bottle) around and not everybody got that much of a drink," he said.

Of his time in the service, Linsenbardt said his greatest lesson was to be humble, shut up and follow orders, which may be good advice for husbands, too. "You didn't have to think through much yourself, because you did what you were told," he said.

After the war, Linsenbardt returned to the states and worked as an electrician in North Carolina for about a year before moving to Texas for the next two decades. While he is fond of his Texas memories, Linsenbardt said he was surprised to witness Jim Crow laws in action and learned a lot about what African-American people were going through in the South before the civil rights movement.

He came back to Missouri in the 1970s and retired from Westinghouse in 1982. Along the way, he and his brother purchased his mother's family farm, where they used to chop field weeds as boys. Linsenbardt went to work as a hobby farmer, which he still enjoys to this day, especially mowing hay on his tractor.

He and his wife totalled four children. The family has multiplied to 12 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren, one of which was born Dec. 19, as if Linsenbardt had received an early birthday and Christmas present.

If Linsenbardt has any secret to a long life, it is staying active and loving your work. Otherwise, "just play it by ear," he said.