Some time back I posted about a friend of mine in Phoenix who I had recently touched base with after many years.
I hadn't realized how many years it had been until Sam Lowe told me he was now a nonagenarian, i.e. a person who had lived into his 90's.
Fortunately (as the case may be) I find that I am far, far younger than Mr. Lowe.
I'm only a sprightly 83.
A mere octogenarian.
But then a picture came to me of a gathering of old-timers and I realized the apple doesn't fall very far from the tree.
It was taken over 70 years ago when four young men were about to go their separate ways in life.
They are, from left to right, Jack Burbidge (who just recently passed away at 91), Wayne Taylor (my big brother), Bob Jensen (who provided the photograph), and Jack Edwards.
The latter three are all 90 years old now.
They are pictured, I believe, outside of what was then the Presbyterian Church in Stanley, North Dakota, a small town where they all grew up.
They were collectively known as The Four Horsemen.
It was a different time then, an era of double-breasted suits and wide neckties.
I doubt that any of them, in those sun-dappled days of youth, ever entertained the idea that one day, they might become known as nonagenarians.
Who among us ever thinks of growing old?
