Kenneth Bryan and his wife Catherine have spent their entire lives enjoying the beautiful beaches of Northwest Indiana. Bryan was 84 when this picture was taken, and until a couple of years ago, rode wave runners on the Lake Michigan along with other various beach activities.
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By Nicholas Serrano
Who remembers Guy Lombardo and his big band? Can anyone recall a time before televisions and automobiles? When making a call meant speaking with an operator to connect your call.
Kenneth Bryan can. Bryan celebrated turning 100 years old on January 9, 2010 and despite his age, he’s more active than most people half his age. Don’t believe it? Just talk him and his darling wife Catherine (Cat) and they will be more than willing to let anyone know about their regular appearances on the beach or how they still drive around the country for vacations and swap meets. Like the locomotives his life revolves around, Bryan just keeps on chuggin’.
Bryan, like most people from that era, was born inside his home in Kankakee, Illinois in a small house on Charles Street. An only child, he moved to Gary with his parents, Bill and Peg in 1919. At the time, Gary was under martial law due to a strike occurring within the steel mills. Bryan said he remembers seeing soldiers patrolling the streets and people weren’t allowed outside after dark.
Despite the political climate of the time, life in Gary was different back then. As a child he would go sledding in Jefferson Park and his summers were spent enjoying fun in the sun on the beach. Bryan and his friends would take the streetcar to Lake Street Beach where they would enjoy the pleasant weather and beautiful lakeshore. It may be hard to imagine, but at the time Marquette Park was quite the playground. There was a roller skating rink and lots of concession stands. Brian remembers taking the streetcar as far as he could and then walking a mile to get to the beach.
Over the past 100 years, Bryan said one of the biggest changes he’s noticed in that time was the transition from horse and buggies to automobiles. Bryan said the first car he rode in was a Ford Model T in 1921. Some of the other changes he can recall were the invention of the telephone, radio and television. Although the new modes of transportation, communication and entertainment were enough to transfix most people in those days, what really captured Bryan’s imagination and heart was railroad trains.
A 47-year employee of the EJ & E railroad company where he worked as a weight master starting in1927, Bryan’s love for trains started at a young age. From early in his youth, he was always fascinated with trains. Bryan began collecting toy trains as a child and has continued to do so his entire life. He has hundreds of detailed train miniatures and is one of the charter members of the Train Collectors Association of America (TCA). Besides himself, Bryan’s wife worked on the railroad for 36 years, his son Josh worked on it for 30 years and his grandson Zack works there now.
“Our family used to go to Colorado all the time to visit our cousin. From there we’d always go to Cheyenne, Wyoming to see the steam engine locomotives going up the hills. It was a highlight of our vacations for 20 years,” said Josh, Bryan’s eldest son.
Bryan met his wife Catherine on a blind date. Fourteen years her senior, the couple will be celebrating 65 years of marriage this year. They had three children together, Josh (63), Kit (61) and Keith (59). While raising their kids, the Bryans would always spend as much time as they could on the beach. Since the 1940’s until he was about 80 or so, Brian had always owned a boat. He remembers when he was one of the first men from the area with a boat on Lake Michigan.
“There were only three of us with boats at Marquette Park. Back then there were no boat ramps so we used to have to push our boats in the sand and launch them by hand,” Bryan said.
Bryan also collects and works on bicycles. He bought his first Bicycle, a Schwinn, in 1941 in order to save money on gasoline. Bryan still has dozens of vintage bicycles and to this day, continues to ride and work on them. He can still be seen riding his bike around the neighborhood. In fact, just last year, Bryan broke his kneecap after falling off a bike he was repairing. This, and other activities, keep him active, a quality Bryan attributes to his blessedly long life.
“What keeps me going now is keeping up with my wife Cat and my three sons,” Bryan said.
Between spending time with his wife and family and continuing to pursue his various hobbies, Bryan leads a surprisingly active life for being 100. Twice a year he drives to Pennsylvania for the semi-annual TCA meet. For the past 30 years, he has gone also goes to Portland, Indiana for the weeklong motor scooter and bicycle swap meet. Until a couple years ago he rode jet skis during the summer on Lake Michigan, although Bryan and his wife still regularly head to the beach.
“He likes to keep himself active,” Catherine said. “He’s too busy to kick the bucket.”
Bryan has six grandchildren and three great grandchildren. He has led and continues to lead, a fun and remarkable life. He has lived to see some amazing things and watched the world around him change, all the while continuing to receive enjoyment and fulfillment from life in many different ways. He lives in Portage with his wife, where he has for the past 27 years, and with any luck, he will continue to do so for years to come.
