Well Being: This 'Life in Full' is a vitally active one

Sometimes it pays to trust a rat.

At age 17, Frank Herrelko quit school and began working in a coal mine near his home in Western Pennsylvania to help his family pay off its debts. One day, during a break, he was throwing pieces of coal at the mine rats.

"Son, don't do that," his father said. The rats are there for a reason, he explained. They have a sixth sense about impending disaster.

Weeks later, Frank and his father were waiting for a coal car when Frank saw a rat scurry by and fetch her baby. Then the rat returned to retrieve a second baby.

"Let's get the hell out of here!" his father shouted.

They'd scrambled barely 100 feet when the roof of the chamber where they'd been working collapsed.

"That rat saved my life," Herrelko recalled the other day.

And what a life it's been, long and rich enough to warrant a book. In fact, Herrelko did just that. With the help of his son David, he wrote an autobiography that was published in 2008, Frank Herrelko: A Life in Full.

The book chronicles Herrelko's 34-year career in the Army and Air Force, from which he retired as a colonel. It includes such episodes as his tour of duty in Hawaii, where, as a young medic, he helped certify the health of prostitutes frequented by GIs. And the time he danced with Marlene Dietrich in Iceland. And the time he was chosen, because of his talent on the trumpet, to play "Ruffles and Flourishes" to welcome King George of England to the United States.

Along the way, the reader comes to know a man of many skills and interests (musician, dancer, marksman, woodworker) and immense vitality and enthusiasm for life. The same can be said of Herrelko at age 98.

All his life, he has taken care of his body by exercising and watching what he eats. In the 1980s, he learned about the senior Olympics and began competing at the state and national level in bowling and such track and field events as race-walking, the 50-meter dash, the high jump, long jump, triple jump, shot put, discus, javelin, and hammer throw.

In 2003, he appeared in Sports Illustrated as one of the "Faces in the Crowd." The magazine saluted him for winning nine gold medals (five in track and field, four in bowling) in his age group at the Huntsman World Senior Games in St. George, Utah, as well as a 10th as the overall track and field champion.

In all, Herrelko has collected more than 350 medals for his athletic feats. He has become such a fixture at the Huntsman Games that he was inducted into its Hall of Fame. If he can enlist an escort, Herrelko plans to vie again in October.

The competition is thinning in his age group, 94 to 99. Herrelko, who was born on June 8, 1913, still stands an inch over 6 feet and weighs 180 pounds, a weight he has maintained, give or take two or three pounds, since reaching adulthood.

"God gives most people a pretty good body," Herrelko said, "but many people don't take care of it. The main thing is not to gain any excess weight."

He maintains his physique by walking. At least six times a day, he strides the long corridors from his apartment to the lobby of Spring House Estates, the retirement community where he lives in Lower Gwynedd. Outdoors, he walks the campus trails.

On Mondays, he bowls, usually with other residents, at a nearby alley. During one recent series, he averaged 170 scratch, with a high game of 190. Once or twice a week, he visits the fitness center, where he walks on the treadmill and lifts weights.

"When I wake up, my pulse is 50," Herrelko said. "During the day, it's 62. That's the pulse of a superathlete."

A while back, researchers at Johns Hopkins, impressed by his fitness, tested and probed him over the course of three years as part of a human longevity study.

For breakfast, Herrelko usually eats two eggs with bacon or ham. For lunch: soup. Supper consists of a variety of food but a constant accompaniment is one or two glasses of port wine.

Some of that wine is given in gratitude by friends and other residents. One of Herrelko's hobbies is sewing, and he does mending and alterations for free. Trained as a barber, he also gives haircuts. To keep his mind keen, he plays bridge and completes crossword puzzles. His memory is such that he can recite the Gettysburg Address, which he sometimes delivers dressed as Abraham Lincoln.

Herrelko has four children, six grandchildren, and 12 great-grandchildren. His wife, Edie, who grew up in Bridgeport and to whom he was married 68 years, died last June at 94. "I sure miss her," he said. "She was the best thing that ever happened to me."

He has conducted his life according to the advice of his father: "There's nothing within reason that you cannot accomplish if you want to and are willing to work for it."

To see a video about how Frank Herrelko stays active, go to: www.philly.com/herrelko. EndText