Meridian Senior Living Resident Celebrates 107th Birthday

January 8, 2018

LAKELAND, FL–Lakeland man, Isaac Newcomer, “Ike”, celebrated his 107th birthday on January 2nd at Meridian Senior Living’s community: Lake Morton Plaza, where he is currently living. He celebrated with dozens of Lake Morton Plaza residents and Lakeland Police Department officers.

Ike was presented with gifts such as a happy birthday letter from the mayor, police challenge coins, and a framed photo. He was also given a 30 ft. birthday card with more than 600 birthday greetings extracted from Facebook comments. When Ike’s daughter explained that some of the comments were from all over the world, Ike could not believe it saying, “On no, isn’t that something, for goodness sakes, isn’t that nice.”

Ike was born on January 2, 1911, in Pennsylvania. Raised on a Hershey farm, Ike was one of four boys in his family and they worked very hard. For 14 years, Ike worked in a Hershey chocolate factory and then met his wife, Helen, on a carousel at Hershey Park. Subsequent careers include brakeman on the Reading Railroad, truck driver, and constructing homes.

Ike and Helen found joy in traveling across the U.S. in their Airstream trailer. They were members of the Wally Byam Caravan Club and attending rallies in St. Louis, Bozeman and Seattle. Their travels landed them in every state except Hawaii and also most of Canada. For the holidays, Ike and Helen visited their daughter in Lakeland, FL. And in 1982, they decided to reside there to be close to family. For the next 10 years, they continued to travel with Las Vegas being their favorite travel spot. Once Ike was in his 80’s he decided that the travel was not as much fun, so they changed to cruises. For their 70th anniversary, the whole family joined them for a 5-day cruise in the Bahamas, which was a wonderful memory for Ike.

Ike has been a resident of Lake Morton Plaza since December 2008 and says it has been one of the best decisions he has made. He has found friendship and happiness and looks forward to his 108th birthday. Ike is in excellent health and the Lake Morton Plaza staff says he still does his own laundry.