Sam Baker, who celebrates his  101st birthday on Aug. 26, is a humble man who claims not to know the secret to his longevity.

But if a recent interview is any indication, Sam’s passion may be the key.  His passion for life, for learning, for serving. 

Could his optimism also have something to do with it?  Here’s a guy who received his first heart pacemaker at age 83, his second at age 91, expects to receive his third next year, and is excited that his next pacemaker should last another 15 years.  “When the doctors told me that, I said ‘I’ll take it’.”

Mr. Baker is going to have a quiet celebration for his 101st birthday because he wants to wait and have a big party for his 105th, “like the big one we had last year for my 100th”.

Sam Baker’s third book is about to be published, he has already written the first four chapters of his fourth book, and is formulating ideas “but just in my head” for his fifth book.

Concerned about the high suicide rates of former football players, this 100-year-old has designed a football helmet he believes will help prevent concussions.  He is excited because he expects to receive a patent on the new helmet soon.  With a tinkle in his eye, he explains, “when the applicant is my age, the patent office expedites things because they want the inventor to still be alive when the patent is granted”. 

What will he get out of it if the patent is granted?  “Nothing, but I might save a life.  That’s enough. In the Jewish religion, we’re taught that if you save a life, you save the world.”

Mr. Baker is a grateful man. “I had a loving wife, Janet, for 48½ years.  I have two great children.  I learned so much from my parents, like when my mother told me ‘you never learn anything with your mouth open’.”

He’s grateful that at age 8, at the beginning of the depression, he was able to get a newspaper route that paid $1.50 a week for delivering 126 papers a day, six days a week.  He gave it all to his mother.  “On Fridays, the paper bag weighed as much as I did,” he jokes. 

He’s grateful that he learned so much from his Jewish heritage.  And from scouting and eventually becoming an Eagle Scout.  That he was able to attend Mississippi State University.  That two pacemakers have keep him alive, and with technology improvements his next one should be even better. 

Sam never expected to live as long as he has.  His mother died at age 52, his father at 65, his older sister at 42 and his younger sister at 80 — all of cancer.

He says he has “already had my nine lives," starting with Scarlet Fever at age 4.  “The boy next door died.  Somehow, I survived.”  Still sharper at age 100 than most 40-year-olds, he can recite all “nine lives” from memory, including several narrow escapes from death during World War II.

His parents had lost their dry goods store, their cotton fields and their home during the depression.  They had borrowed money to stock the store, and extended credit to their customers until the cotton harvest.  When the cotton went for 5 cents a pound instead of the expected $1 a pound, they lost everything. 

But they were able to stay in the home by promising to buy it back over time, which they did.  Hobos would come to the back door, begging for food.  They were never refused, but also were always asked to do something around the house — like pulling weeds or mowing grass — to “earn” it.

Money was still tight when Sam was ready for college, but he had saved $90 driving a bread truck.  He offered to delay college and keep driving to help out.  His mother refused.  “They can take everything else, but they can’t take away your education.  We’ll find a way.”  Which they did.

That education, an engineering degree at Mississippi State, paid off.  Sam served in the South Pacific during World War II as an officer in the Marine Corps. He was stationed at Cape Canaveral during the early days of the U.S. space program.  He served as director of the National Geodetic Survey.  He retired from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration after 30 years of service, then worked on a fusion project for the Brookhaven National Laboratories.

And then what?  Why not start writing books for children?  Yes, that’s the next “career” that Sam Baker chose for himself.  Why?

“Only 14% of children today read for the enjoyment of reading”, he says, pointing to his iPhone as the reason why.  “When I was little, reading was everything to us. Now, children have forgotten how to imagine things. I decided to write children’s books to try to stimulate their imaginations.”

He does more than write those books.  Even at 100 years old, he still visits elementary and preschools to make presentations and interact with the children.  “Children are so great at that age.  They say exactly what they’re thinking, with no fooling around." he says.

Mr. Baker was at Scottsdale’s Desert Sun Academy on Aug. 18 to read his book “Oscar the Mouse” to PreK-second grade students, and he gave each of them a book to take home.  One first-grader who enjoyed the presentation remarked, “He’s almost 101 years old, and he fought in World War II.  And they won!”

While Sam is hopeful about youngsters, he’s worried about today’s generation.  “In a democracy we all have a voice, but we have to work together.  Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neill didn’t agree, but they didn’t argue.  They worked together for the good of the country. 

“Democracy was so important to us. But today, too many people who never fought for democracy don’t understand that.  They don’t realize what a privilege citizenship in a democracy is.  They don’t listen, they don’t want to work with others, and they don’t defend our democracy.  They don’t love their country.  They teach hate, not love, and not cooperation.  Politics has taken an awful turn.”

But Sam Baker doesn’t just complain about things.  He does whatever he can to make things better. 

He is an active participant in current events discussions at the Vi at Silverstone, the senior living community in north Scottsdale where he resides in his independent living apartment. He’s still writing children’s books and visiting their schools to influence the next generation.  He’s still designing football helmets to save lives. 

He still cares, and he’s still passionate about making a difference.  And that passion may be what’s keeping him alive and looking forward to his big 105^th birthday party.

Joe Smyth is a retired journalist, and grateful to be a friend and neighbor of the remarkable Sam Baker.