Ray Harrington hits 100, celebrates with neighbors, friends

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The community room at Brentwood Greene Apartments was filled with candles, balloons, and decorations recently for a rather special event. Well, just about everyone thought it was noteworthy; everyone except the person who was the focus of much ado.

Raymond Harrington celebrated his 100th birthday among his neighbors, friends, and family on May 28, but the event was clearly more for everyone else, he contended.

"It's just another day," said Harrington. "They come and go."

Harrington joined the select group of community centenarians with a matter-of-fact demeanor, accepted the well wishes of those in attendance, and enjoyed a bit of birthday cake. And he took a brief moment to reminisce about his life. It began simply, then blossomed into something personally special.

"I didn't go to school past eighth grade," said Harrington. "I helped mom and dad pay the bills. I got me a good job and everything. It paid alright for a turn."

But the moment – the lifetime – he dwelled upon most was meeting and eventually marrying the love of his life, Eva.

"When I met Eva, she didn't want to get married," said Harrington, skipping the details of their courtship. "But she had a girlfriend. She told her, 'You found a good man. You don't get those back again.’"

Sixteen years his junior, Eva eventually relented, and the two were married on New Year's Eve, 1949; a union that lasted more than 60 years. She passed away on Christmas Eve, 2010.

Like everything else, life moved on, not asking permission or making concession. And Raymond moved along with it. And when asked for his secret to a long life, he explained that he really didn't have much to do with it.

"It's all the good Lord," said Harrington. "The good Lord let me live this long."

In his later years, Harrington has found ways to be a good friend and even a blessing to others. The crowd in the community room bore witness to this. And, as his neighbor Alva Phillips explained, Raymond thinks of others, perhaps more than of himself.

"I would like the whole community to know what a wonderful blessing that man has been to my life," said Phillips. "I was in the hospital one time, and all of a sudden in the recovery area, my phone rang.

"I thought, 'Who's that calling?' I didn't really know him at the time. It was Ray calling to see how I was doing. That was nice of him. That was a wonderful blessing, to have a neighbor reach out and think about me."