Edmond’s Bradford Village Resident turns 105

Charles McGregor, known as Charlie, celebrates his 105th birthday tomorrow. Born May 5, 1919, Charlie has resided at Bradford Village for 18 years. For the past five years he has been in assisted living, but facility director Paula Brooks assures that Charlie is “sharp, focused, and very with it, albeit a little hard of hearing.”

Charlie was born in South Haven, Kansas, not far from the Oklahoma border, where he stayed through high school. He married Mildred, whom he called “Millie”, who prior to her death in 2017 was a Licensed Practical Nurse.

Charlie was one of the first Americans drafted into the Army and crossed the Atlantic aboard the Queen Elizabeth from New York to France, a trip that took five days. Once in Europe he served in Marseilles. Charlie served for four years, four months, and four days of service, achieving the rank of staff sergeant.

While Charlie was in Europe, Millie moved back to northern Oklahoma with her family, in a small town just south of the Kansas border. There she gave birth to their first daughter, Judy; Charlie was notified of Judy’s arrival by the Red Cross. He wouldn’t meet Judy in person until she was a year and half old.

After returning from overseas, he went straight to Millie’s family farm, where he learned to farm from his father-in-law. He later took over the farm entirely after his in-laws passed, raising sheep, cows, wheat, hay, and barley.

Charlie said he enjoyed farming, being able to be outside, be his own boss and make decisions. He also appreciated knowing that people depended on him for his expertise in working with animals and plants.

Unfortunately, years of inhaling dust at the farm caused Charlie to struggle repeatedly with pneumonia and allergies. Charlie wanted to get away from that, and he also wanted to move Millie closer to their family, so they came to Edmond. He received better medical care and his health improved, and he and Millie enjoyed their new living arrangements at Bradford village in their cottage surrounded by friends and family.

A strong Christian, Charlie values his close relationship with God. Throughout his life, he did not work on Sundays, and he affirmed that God had blessed him and made him prosperous. Indeed, Charlie noted his biggest accomplishment in life was just getting in touch with God. He said he always prays at night, “God, I’ll see you in the morning, either your house or mine,” and he thanks the Lord for being his friend when he gets up each day.

He said he looks forward to meeting God in his next chapter of life, and he stated, “There is no way you can go wrong if you follow God and read His Word.” He spends a lot of his time reading and studying the Bible.

Charlie refuses to make a “big fuss” over his 105th birthday. His 100th birthday he celebrated with a large party attended by over 100 guests. This year he wants to keep it low-key and just spend it with his family. His celebrations will include his four daughters, eleven grandchildren,  over thirty great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandson.