SAN ANTONIO – A U.S. Air Corps veteran is enjoying his 106th birthday celebration a lot like someone half his age would. He had a quick workout and a surprise birthday party at his gym at the Baptist Healthlink Fitness and Wellness Center. Charlie Joseph Kunetka is still active and enjoys a wit and memory that few his age could boast of.
Throughout the party, his contemporaries continued to offer compliments like, "You look absolutely fantastic. What's your secret?" Each time, he said he wasn’t sure, but after a conversation with KSAT’s Ursula Pari, he did share a few clues.
Ursula asked him, "Do you think you drank a lot?” He answered, “No.” She also asked him, “Did you smoke a lot?” He answered, “No”. But Kunetka also added, while laughing, “I drank a lot of water.”
The son of Czechoslovakian immigrants who was born in 1910 outlived both parents at a very young age. He was raised by an aunt in Jourdanton and eventually working at Kelly Air Force Base running the PX exchange. He said most of his relatives are gone now, with one uncle also celebrating his 100th birthday.
His daughters said Charlie’s longevity is due to a great attitude and hard work on his fitness and his brain function. His youngest daughter, Sue Hansmeyer, said, "He works at keeping his mind sharp because he'll memorize all the presidents of the United States in order. I’ll catch him sometimes looking like he’s mumbling, but he’s just repeating their names."
It must work because a conversation with the WWII veteran also reveals a great memory of names and places from a long-ago childhood in the 1910s and 20s. "I can still name the families who had children who went to that school and I can still name that teacher in 1924," Kunetka said.
Another factor in his agility and ability at 106 is the fact that Charlie has never stopped traveling. In the last 10 years, he’s been to the Czech Republic, Hawaii, Germany, Alaska, the East Coast and West Coast. In fact, he said he doesn’t think there’s a state in the U.S. he has not visited.
The staff at the Baptist HealthLink Fitness and Wellness Center not only threw him a 106th surprise birthday party, they also gave him a gift of a Southwest Airlines gift card so he can continue his travels. While that may have come in handy for this busy man, when asked what he wanted, Charlie said simply, “Another year.”