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Whidbey Xtra! WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2016 | Vol. 1, No. 38 | WWW.WHIDBEYNEWSTIMES.COM | FREE
After 100 years, WWII vet is still horsing around By RON NEWBERRY
rnewberry@whidbeynewstimes.com
The stuffed horse that rests on Harvey Lasell’s kitchen counter was a gift he purchased for a great grandchild, but it’s no mystery who has derived the most pleasure from the toy. “Pinch his right ear,” Lasell says to his housekeeper, who accommodates the request but accidently grabs the wrong one. “His right ear!” Lasell barks out. “Shirley, where did you go to school?” Lasell gets away with plenty from the wooden rocking chair in his Oak Harbor home these days. It’s part of the license he’s earned for living to be 100. Reach out to shake Lasell’s hand and you’re bound to grip an “Energy Stick” instead. The device, which lights up when electricity is conducted and it works properly, amuses him. But not as much as when he teases his housekeeper. “He calls me Shirley. It’s just Sheila,” said Sheila Ryan. “He gives me a hard time.” Friends and family have come to expect the unexpected from Lasell, who has maintained his wit and sense of humor while reaching an age associated with longevity. Lasell, a retired Naval officer and World War II veteran, celebrated his
Photo by Ron Newberry / Whidbey News-Times
Harvey Lasell’s centenarian status is the latest milestone of a life filled with memories of family and the Navy. 100th birthday this month on two different occasions, neither of them on the actual date he was born. The first was a gathering in his honor at the Officers Club at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station in which local magician JR Russell played a
slideshow of Lasell’s life and asked him questions. “I asked him, ‘Harvey, everyone wants to know, what is the secret to living to 100?’” Russell said. “He said, ‘Don’t die.’” Joyce Kuhn has her own theories.
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She said her dad has always been a proud and determined man, physically fit, independent and strongwilled, but admits good genes have likely played a role. Harvey Lasell was born Dec. 23, 1915, in Williamstown, Vt., grew
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up on a farm, became a keen shot and developed a love of horses at an early age. He later followed a family tradition by graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy and served 21 years in the Navy, including time aboard the USS Yorktown during the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway in 1942. His skills as a marksman earned him the Secretary of the Navy’s pistol trophy. “If I had to describe Harvey, I’d say that the man is all Navy,” said Lesley Robbins, his longtime friend and neighbor. “The Navy has been his life.” After retiring from the Navy, Lasell spent a second career with Boeing and has lived on a small farm setting in Oak Harbor since 1982. He lost Betty, his wife of 54 years, in 1994. They had five children, four of whom are still living. Joyce Kuhn and her husband live next door to her father to help keep an eye on him in his later years. Kuhn said she continues to be amazed by her dad, who doesn’t wear glasses except for reading and owns hearing aids but never wears them. “He’s quite a storyteller,” Kuhn said. “He loves to tell stories. Horses are very important to him. They still are. He doesn’t have any now. SEE LASELL, PAGE 3