No secrets to hitting 101

“Shorty” Joyce

Gerson Robert “Shorty” Joyce will celebrate his 101 birthday Friday, Dec. 15, at Rosewood Assisted Living Center on U.S. Highway 96 South.

It’s going to be hard to top last year’s 100th celebration. Pictures in the entry hall at Rosewood show Shorty cavorting with a belly dancer young enough to be his daughter, which probably means she is someone’s grandmother.

Dancing has always been a passion of his. “I was a tap dancer once,” he said. “I had a chance to go to Hollywood and be in the movies, but I was too busy for that.”

Instead, he never strayed that far from home. He was born in Kirbyville, considers Newton home, and now lives in Rosewood to be close to his daughter, Faye Lynn Sutphin of Jasper.

Shorty and wife Lera also had two sons, Ray and Bill, and he has four grandchildren and five greatgrandchildren.

“I had a good married life for the time it lasted,” Shorty said, as though it might not have been long. The biography posted with his birthday pictures say the couple was married 70 years.

Shorty said he did a little bit of everything, from truck driving to timber work. He served as a Newton County commissioner during World War II, and then retired from Texaco in 1969.

Shorty said he enjoyed all of his jobs and the people. As long as he could, he enjoyed hunting and is proudest of a big buck, a 10-pointer.

To the usual question posed to centenarians, “What’s your secret to long life?” — Shorty insisted he never had any secrets, except maybe from the game wardens.