99-Year-Old Man Is Getting Set for His Party of the Century

SANTA ANA —  When Herman R. Fink talks about the secret to long life, listen up.

Fink, who soon will celebrate his 100th birthday, says the key is attitude.

“I’m just as spry as I was when I was 42,” Fink said. “People always ask me how I do it. It’s just two words: happy attitude.”

Fink said he spends his time telling jokes and enjoying himself on cruises and trips around the world.

“I’ve got good health. Everyone tells me I’m cute. Why should I be sad? You should be happy wherever you go and whatever you do.”

His friends call him Herman the Great. His neighbors and city officials in Santa Ana call him the honorary mayor of Flower Street, where he has lived for 57 years.

Fink’s 71-year-old daughter, Lorraine Ellison of Garden Grove, said her father’s sense of humor and jolly attitude attract people and make them smile.

A group of flight attendants recently wrote Fink a letter telling him he was their favorite passenger ever, Ellison said.

Fink “always has a joke or a kind word to say to people,” said Ellison, who frequently accompanies her father on his trips. “He spreads sunshine and love everywhere he goes. It’s quite phenomenal.”

Born in Chicago on Oct. 2, 1896, Fink helped his parents, two brothers and two sisters make ends meet by selling candy at burlesque shows and apples on trains, cleaning horse stalls, carrying luggage for train passengers and delivering ice. Later, he bought a garage, where people bought gas and parked their cars.

He moved to California with his wife and daughter in 1931 and opened American Auto Wrecking Co. in Santa Ana. He retired 25 years ago.

Fink, now a widower, has two granddaughters and two great-grandchildren.

Throughout his life, Fink has helped his family and friends through tough financial and emotional times, Ellison said.

“I remember when he and my mother and I would visit an old lady in Anaheim who had no family,” Ellison said. “After the 1933 earthquake, I remember riding in the car to her house to bring her food and drink and make sure she was all right.”

The city of Santa Ana has issued a proclamation in honor of Fink’s birthday. The marquee at Anaheim Stadium will display a birthday message in his honor on Sunday, when friends and family will mark his centennial with a party at an Orange restaurant.