Matt Frye/Sun GazettePaul Brenner, right, references iconic Riverside buildings while recollecting how the town grew during an interview with a Sun Gazette reporter. The Brenner brothers were raised in what is now Riverside long before the city was incorporated.
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Good food, love of life keep Riverside brothers exuberant after nine decades
By Jared Hoffmann
For some people, the pursuit of optimum health and longevity can often follow the path to fad dieting habits, the latest life-enhancing supplements and even experimental medical procedures.
But for three brothers from Riverside, living long and living well entails no secrets.
“The ol’ doc says we have good genes,” said Paul Brenner, the youngest of the brothers, who turned 90 this month. “And our mother always said we ate good food.”
For Paul, his older brothers Louis, 92, and George, 98, who now lives in Arizona, genetics could very well play an integral role in the simple formula that has kept them thriving through nine decades. Their mother, Elma, lived to be 109.
One thing is certain: a combined 280 years of life on this earth generates a wealth of historical knowledge and a nearly infinite supply of interesting stories.
After graduating from North Kansas City High School in 1936, Paul was drafted into the military where he eventually became a flight instructor for the U.S. Air Force from 1941 to 1946 during the Battle of Iwo Jima. Within those few years of service, he remembers having more than his share of close calls.
While flying a mission to Japan in his P-51 airplane, Paul began to hear a series of cracking and popping noises coming from outside the plane. At the time, he was unsure what the source of the noise was, but after returning from the mission, the realization had him counting his blessings.
“I heard a terrible explosion; the airplane popped like crazy,” Paul said. “I didn’t know what was making all the racket. I made it back and realized there was a big hole right in the middle of the propeller. The mechanic said, ‘You don’t realize how lucky you are.’ You do learn to pray a lot when you’re in the service.”
The near loss of his plane’s key flying mechanism was not the only adventurous moment of Paul’s military service. During the return flight of his second mission, a 1,300-mile trek from Iwo Jima to the mainland of Japan, Paul suddenly noticed that his one-man aircraft was going to run out of fuel. Within sight of the base and no fuel to cover the remaining distance, he sent out a radio message that he was going to bail out of the plane. With no ejection seat, he had to kick out the canopy above the cockpit and force his way out against the resistance of 120-mile-per-hour winds. He eventually escaped the aircraft and immediately reached to engage his parachute. But the delayed deployment of his parachute had him more than a little worried as he continued his fall from the sky.
“I thought, ‘Oh damn, I broke it,’” Paul said. “I had never actually parachuted before, and I didn’t realize the rip cord was supposed to come all the way out.”
Paul was later recalled to the service in 1950, where he spent two years participating in tests of the first hydrogen bomb. After that time, he returned home for a much quieter life and worked for the next 33 years for a company called Victor Business Machines, where he sold office equipment. He now lives in a house in Clay County.
For his older brother Louis, adventures in travel, home building and business ownership were more suitable. Until the 1960s, Louis owned and operated Town and Country Hardware Store, which sat on the same piece of land now occupied by Corner Café. He also built homes in the area that would later become Houston Lake on a large piece of property owned by the family. Eager to start a life elsewhere, Louis moved to Naples, Fla., and continued to make a living designing and building homes with his wife, Margarie.
“We had a good time in Florida for 20 years; then we came back,” Louis said. “We just kept building and selling and living.”
Louis moved back to Riverside and built a home on the same piece of land that had been in the family for several years, just north of where the Skyline Inn once existed.
To this day, the brothers maintain active and vibrant lives. Both enjoy attending social functions, playing a game of cards and even embarking on the occasional fishing trip.
Staff writer Jared Hoffmann can be reached at 389-6636 or jaredhoffmann@npgco.com.
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But for three brothers from Riverside, living long and living well entails no secrets.
“The ol’ doc says we have good genes,” said Paul Brenner, the youngest of the brothers, who turned 90 this month. “And our mother always said we ate good food.”
For Paul, his older brothers Louis, 92, and George, 98, who now lives in Arizona, genetics could very well play an integral role in the simple formula that has kept them thriving through nine decades. Their mother, Elma, lived to be 109.
One thing is certain: a combined 280 years of life on this earth generates a wealth of historical knowledge and a nearly infinite supply of interesting stories.
After graduating from North Kansas City High School in 1936, Paul was drafted into the military where he eventually became a flight instructor for the U.S. Air Force from 1941 to 1946 during the Battle of Iwo Jima. Within those few years of service, he remembers having more than his share of close calls.
While flying a mission to Japan in his P-51 airplane, Paul began to hear a series of cracking and popping noises coming from outside the plane. At the time, he was unsure what the source of the noise was, but after returning from the mission, the realization had him counting his blessings.
“I heard a terrible explosion; the airplane popped like crazy,” Paul said. “I didn’t know what was making all the racket. I made it back and realized there was a big hole right in the middle of the propeller. The mechanic said, ‘You don’t realize how lucky you are.’ You do learn to pray a lot when you’re in the service.”
The near loss of his plane’s key flying mechanism was not the only adventurous moment of Paul’s military service. During the return flight of his second mission, a 1,300-mile trek from Iwo Jima to the mainland of Japan, Paul suddenly noticed that his one-man aircraft was going to run out of fuel. Within sight of the base and no fuel to cover the remaining distance, he sent out a radio message that he was going to bail out of the plane. With no ejection seat, he had to kick out the canopy above the cockpit and force his way out against the resistance of 120-mile-per-hour winds. He eventually escaped the aircraft and immediately reached to engage his parachute. But the delayed deployment of his parachute had him more than a little worried as he continued his fall from the sky.
“I thought, ‘Oh damn, I broke it,’” Paul said. “I had never actually parachuted before, and I didn’t realize the rip cord was supposed to come all the way out.”
Paul was later recalled to the service in 1950, where he spent two years participating in tests of the first hydrogen bomb. After that time, he returned home for a much quieter life and worked for the next 33 years for a company called Victor Business Machines, where he sold office equipment. He now lives in a house in Clay County.
For his older brother Louis, adventures in travel, home building and business ownership were more suitable. Until the 1960s, Louis owned and operated Town and Country Hardware Store, which sat on the same piece of land now occupied by Corner Café. He also built homes in the area that would later become Houston Lake on a large piece of property owned by the family. Eager to start a life elsewhere, Louis moved to Naples, Fla., and continued to make a living designing and building homes with his wife, Margarie.
“We had a good time in Florida for 20 years; then we came back,” Louis said. “We just kept building and selling and living.”
Louis moved back to Riverside and built a home on the same piece of land that had been in the family for several years, just north of where the Skyline Inn once existed.
To this day, the brothers maintain active and vibrant lives. Both enjoy attending social functions, playing a game of cards and even embarking on the occasional fishing trip.
Staff writer Jared Hoffmann can be reached at 389-6636 or jaredhoffmann@npgco.com.