Max and Clark Confer

On August 20, 2016, friends and family of Max Confer packed Juniper Village at Brookline Senior Living Community to celebrate an incredible milestone: his 100th birthday. But even a grand celebration and three different birthday cakes could never sum up the life Max has lived.

Born in 1916, Max was a student at State High when the Great Depression hit the country. Before finishing school, he enrolled in the Civilian Conservation Corps, Roosevelt’s work relief program for unemployed young men in need of jobs during the Depression.

“You got a dollar a day,” said Max. “That was a good thing.” In 1942, Max enlisted in the Army because he had grown tired of waiting to inevitably be drafted into World War II. Knowing his eyesight made him unfit for his dream of flying planes, he planned to be a mechanic in the Air Corps instead. However, the Army had other ideas. Instead, they sent Max to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to train as a surgical technician.

“They decided that I would be a medic,” said Max. “I was shipped over to North Africa. I ran an aid station over there, in a place called Orléansville.”

Max Confer while he served in World War II as a medic (left), and as a child during World War I (right)

Max returned from the war to marry his sweetheart, Jeanne, back at home. Together they would have a son, Clark, and a daughter, Carol, both State High alumni. Max went back to work at Automotive Supply Company—the wholesaler he had worked for before enlisting—where he would stay until his retirement at age 65.

In Max’s words, he did “all right” with Automotive Supply Company. In reality, he worked his way up until he was managing stores and working as a traveling salesman, solving the company’s problems from town to town around the State College area. Max helped to build the company to a point where it would eventually be bought out—the new company now operates 800 stores, and Max recalled that he hired the man who is now in charge of those 800 stores.

But as if raising children and working full time weren’t enough, Max had another thing to accomplish. He went back to State High, taking night classes until he eventually graduated.

Max has seen and done more in his life than many ever will. He is able to say that he once purchased a ’29 Model A Ford for $5 and used the body of a ’31 Roadster to rebuild the car with his own two hands. He got to travel to Florida in the winters with his wife, stopping to visit their daughter in North Carolina on the way. He has lived everywhere from Snow Shoe, to D.C., to Algeria, to right here in State College. His son, Clark, only half-jokingly stated that Max knows “half the people in Centre County.”

Best of all, Max went on to learn to fly airplanes after all, and even had his own plane.

“I have no regrets, had no problems,” said Max. “I did everything I wanted to.”

When asked about his secret to staying so healthy, Max answered that he supposes he is just lucky. But to everyone who knows him, they are the ones who have been lucky to have him for these 100 years and counting.