Harry's 97th

Harry Arvidson marked his 97th birthday Sunday with a celebration at the Methodist Church. Harry, whose birthday was Saturday, March 19, entertained friends and family with his sharp wit and stories of his days in the restaurant business and as a WWII submariner.

After a rendition of 'Happy Birthday,' Rod Bullis shared some of the bits of wisdom he's learned from Harry and asked what the secret was to making it to 97.

"I stopped smoking 50 years ago, Harry replied. "I quit drinking about 18 years ago. I haven't had a bottle of beer or a drink..."

"And here you are," Bullis said.

"I'm not happy, but..." Harry said to raucous laughter

Harry served on submarines in WWII, and earned notoriety a few years ago for his historic service as one of the sailors who helped crew the famous Japanese super submarine the I-400 after it surrendered at the end of the war.

Harry continues to be proud of his serve on submarines. He said there were only 16,000 sailors qualified for submarine service during the war and he reminded his guests that 6000 of them never came home.

Harry and his wife Lola moved to Montana in 1956 and ran the Home Café in Conrad until 1982, when their son Scott took over. They purchased a cabin in Lincoln in 1976 and moved her full time in 1988. Lola passed away in 2019.

Becky Garland told Harry she likes going to the Home Cafe and seeing that the pictures of him and Lola are still on the wall.

"What a testimony, and I'm sure everybody loves to go in there and be reminded of who started that whole thing," she said

Garland asked Scott if his pictures were up there yet. "No" he replied.

"His picture? " Harry asked

"It's at home," Scott said

"I'll put a word in for you," Harry deadpanned.