By Mark Ambrogi
To Charlie Schweitzer, his secret to longevity is simple.
“I played a lot of golf,” said Schweitzer, who turns 100 Aug. 8.
And he does mean a lot of golf, traveling all around the world to play.
“I played four or five times during a week when my wife died, because I didn’t have much to do,” said Schweitzer, whose wife, Dorothy, died in 1986.
The Barrington of Carmel assisted living resident played his last round of golf at 97.
“I tried to hit some balls a few months ago and I fell and ended up with a sore shoulder,” Schweitzer said.
Schweitzer, who had a seven-handicap in his prime, was a member of Ulen Country Club in Lebanon for 50 years. Schweitzer belonged to a golfing group called the Eastern Seniors.
“I did a lot of traveling playing courses all over, like Pebble Beach (Calif.) and in Australia,” Schweitzer said.
Started started playing golf in high school.
“For football, I wasn’t big enough, and for baseball, I wasn’t fast enough,” Schweitzer said.
The World War II veteran served as a radio operator for 39 months in the U.S. Army’s 349th Infantry Division in Italy.
“I got tossed out of a jeep and had to go to the hospital in Rome,” Schweitzer said.
Schweitzer retired from RCA after 45 years in 1980, having moved to Indianapolis from New Jersey in 1960.
Schweitzer, who used to bowl, also followed baseball and the stock market as hobbies. He also liked to go to horse races.
His son Ken, 66, lives in Carmel with his wife, Mary Lou, and owns Carmel Glass & Mirror.
His oldest child is Linda Elliott, 74, a Zionsville resident. His sons, David, 73, and Don, 57, and daughter, Helen Bower, 70, live in Indianapolis.
Schweitzer smoked until he was 90, then gave it up.
“That helped me get to where I am,” he said.
Schweitzer has 13 grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren and one great-great grandchild.
There will be a party celebrating Schweitzer’s birthday at The Barrington of Carmel’s assisted living facility from 1 to 4 p.m. Aug. 12. His younger sister, Alice Peterson, will come from Athens, Ohio.
