CLEVELAND — National Centenarian’s Day is a time to honor and celebrate people who’ve reached the age of 100, and one Ohioan is celebrating for the second year.
“No way I ever thought that I was gonna be over 100,” Armand Venditti said. “Let alone living to be 85 or 90, I thought that was gonna be it.”
The father of six is now 101, with another birthday coming up in November. He said family brought some of his greatest joys.
“Watching them grow up, get married, and even when the good lord calls them, you’re there for whatever you can do to help everything,” he said.
Venditti was drafted into World War II and served with the Army Air Force overseas.
“Luckily, I made it back,” he said.
He said his faith guided his path.
“My life, I was lucky,” he said. “I always attributed most of that to God, because as I look over the past, I don’t know. I know I wouldn’t be here. What I had to go through, what I faced. And the Holy Spirit. That was there for me.”
Venditti keeps an eye on what he eats and stays active.
“Exercise is one of the important things,” he said. “You don’t have to get into the fancy stuff.”
But, he said the key to a long life is happiness.
“You just gotta keep working at it and always look at the sunny side of things,” he said.
