“Wisdom is knowing what to do next; Skill is knowing how to do it; and Virtue is doing it.”

— David Starr Jordan

101 years old. "That's really old," says the 5-year-old. "Don't I know it!" laughed the 101-year-old.

Bern Norpoth loved to fly kites when he was a little boy.

He would build the kites from sticks and newspaper, adding a tail of cloth from his mother's sewing cabinet.

He still remembers the first day one of his kites actually flew. It was around 1918 and he was with his little sister. She held the kite while he ran, the kite lifting into the air.

"The kite's playground is the whole sky," he said to the kindergarten and first-grade classes from Bookcliff Christian School.

The students brought handmade birthday cards to their meeting with Norpoth at the Atrium of the Grand Valley Retirement Center in Grand Junction, CO. They helped him celebrate his June 2 birthday a week early, which will be his 101st.

"That's really old!" one child commented when Norpoth told them how old he was. "Don't I know it!" he laughed.

He shared a picture of himself and his brother as children. He recalls that being born only 15 months apart, they often "got into scraps," but his father and mother always made sure they would make up.

The students asked him many questions about his 101 years of living.

How old were you when you first saw television? "About 40 or 50-years-old," he said.

What was your first job? "I worked in a drugstore at the soda fountain. I loved that job because I got to work with the ice cream. My favorite is strawberry," he laughed.

Where did you live before here? "I lived in St. Louis, along the Mississippi River, until I was drafted into the Army at 35 years old," he said, explaining that he stayed stateside during WWII.

Norpoth has lived at the Atrium for 12 years. He has one daughter, Mary Nelson, 3 grandchildren, 6 great-grandchildren, and 2 great great-grandchildren.