Owatonna man is a century … plus on Owatonna

OWATONNA — Victor Kubicek has seen more than most people. As well he should have. After all, he’s lived longer than most people.
Today, Kubicek celebrates his 101st birthday.
According to Kubicek, he hasn’t done that much interesting in his life, but he still keeps the members of his house and the workers entertained with stories of his past. He’s lived through a time when tractors were just starting to become part of farming, through Prohibition and through World War II.
“He tells us a lot of stories,” said Linda Kath, a staff member at Westside Board and Lodge, where Kubicek lives.
Kubicek was actually born in 1909 on a farm outside of Owatonna. He helped his family by working on the farm when he was growing up and was educated there as well. During that time, he witnessed the destruction of a moonshine distillery. He and a friend watched as a group of people took axes to the building and burned it to the ground.
“He told me when the police came around, all the neighbors just clamped up and said they didn’t know anything,” Kath said.
His family eventually sold the farm and moved into town, but Kubicek didn’t give up on farming. Later on, when he was about 21 years old, he went to Canada to help his uncle on his farm. There he worked a team of eight horses to tend to the acres of wheat his uncle grew.
“I liked working with the horses. Some of the hired hands didn’t, but you could get a lot of work out of the horses if you treated them right,” Kubicek said.
After he came back from Canada, he was drafted into WWII but didn’t see a lot of action. Instead, he was sent out to work on the trucks and planes for the military. He built them, kept them in good shape and visited them in the field if the couldn’t get the planes back to base.
“They would use a smaller plane, a P-13, to take the mechanics out if the plane couldn’t make it back to base,” Kubicek said.
Actually, Kubicek just got honored for the service he provided in the war. A couple of years ago, the American Legion discovered that Kubicek hadn’t gotten his medal for serving in the war. On his 99th birthday, Kubicek got his medal for serving. Two of his friends and a man in another house also got a medal on his birthday after the representative from the Legion was told about the veterans.
“They wanted to know why I didn’t get a medal,” Kubicek said.
After the war, he started his career at Chevrolet. There he served as a mechanic and got plenty of perks. After a few years, he started getting a new cars all the time. Then he could trade it in for more than he paid because the family couldn’t keep up with demand.
“He had a lot of new cars. For a while, he had a new car every other year,” Kath said.
After he retired at the age 65, he said he loafed around. Loafing included helping at a mink farm for two years and driving tractors at other farms. It also meant a lot of hunting and fishing and playing baseball with his friends in Medford.
“He told me if he would have known he’d live this long, he would have worked longer,” Kath said.
About 15 years ago, he started living at Westside Board and Lodge. Although time has taken away most of his friends and family, he still has plenty of support from the people at the lodge and his nieces and nephews that are left. Residents love Kubicek’s stories and tend to treat him like a father. Although his oldest friend is only 90 years old, Kubicek has many friends that have been calling in birthday wishes from Arizona. The staff are also friends. Kath tends to take Kubicek to Rochester on her days off. There she loves hearing about the tidbits of his life.
“I think I’ve found a good place to live in remaining days,” Kubicek said.
The celebration for Kubicek’s 101st birthday is today from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the lodge. Cake and coffee will be served as he celebrates another year of life.

Briana Gehring can be reached at 444-2378.

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Member Opinions: By: turkey123 on 3/10/10 Happy Birthday!!! By: stretchdrive on 3/10/10 Great story! Happy Birthday! By: jcunard on 3/10/10 Happy Birthday, Uncle Vic, We love you and are happy to see you looking your usual handsome self. Janice (Hyland Krahulec) Cunard Woodbridge, VA
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