Glen Yow: ‘Still hanging’ at 100

ASHEBORO — Glen Yow has done a lot and seen a lot in his 100 years. He celebrated his centennial on Sept. 1 at his Brookdale Senior Living home.

How does it feel to be 100? “You feel old, you can’t walk good or see good. But I’m still hanging.

“My mom lived to 102,” Yow said of Rena Yow. So there must be something in the genes.

But his son, Ronnie Yow, only lived to be 76, dying on Aug. 19, just a couple of weeks before his father’s birthday. His daughter, Ginger Yow, saw to it that Glen’s birthday was one to remember.

Truth be told, Glen Yow has plenty of memories and he enjoys telling about them, particularly his time serving in the Navy during World War II.

“I was drafted at 18 and I hadn’t been anywhere but North Carolina before,” he said. “I was in the Navy for three years in World War II, two in the Atlantic and one in the Pacific.”

He said his ship was in a convoy that went across the Atlantic Ocean, close to the North Pole and Russia, and stayed a month. That was at the port of Murmansk on the Barents Sea. He said the temperature dipped to 68 degrees below zero.

When the convoy was leaving, Yow said, the ship ahead of them was torpedoed by a German U-boat. “We picked up 87 survivors,” he said. “The sub came up to get air and we saw the conning tower. Our gun hit it and sank the sub.”

During its time in the icy waters, Yow’s ship broke a propeller. When it tried to advance its speed, he said, the ship began vibrating. So the crew had to go slow or break the propeller completely, leaving them adrift in the water.

“We were supposed to be in the Normandy invasion (on D-Day) but the propeller was messed up,” Yow said. “So we went back to the US, to New York.”

After a short leave, Yow was assigned to another ship and again crossed the Atlantic, one of 12 times back and forth. On one crossing, he said, his ship “brought back 300 German prisoners. They were glad not to be fighting,” instead put to work helping the war effort.

Meanwhile, Yow saw much of the world outside North Carolina, including several countries in Europe and Africa, not to mention supporting troops hopping from island to island in the Pacific.

Yow returned home to Asheboro after the war and went to work learning to run knitting machines. “I saw a blond come through one day and said, ‘Hello, Blondie.’ She said, ‘Shut up.’ Six months later, I married her.”

Glen and Kitty Yow were married 62 years until her death in 2009. He had cared for Kitty for eight years when her health was failing.

During his working days, Yow spent 38 years with Burlington Industries, including plants in Asheboro, High Point and Ramseur. He was made a supervisor, which required him to wear a tie.

He stayed four years at the Ramseur plant, which, he said, “was big,” at one time said to be the largest cotton/dacron plant in the world. But he left there when the company went to rotating shifts. Later, he got a call to help open a new plant in North Asheboro and stayed three or four years before retiring.

But working was just part of Yow’s life. He said that between 1960 and 1966, there were archery clubs all across the Piedmont. They had tournaments on weekends at various cities.

“I did freestyle, with a sight,” he said, explaining that competitors would shoot at targets at distances of 50, 60, 70 and 80 yards. Yow must have had a good eye because he had trophies to show for his efforts. 

“I won the state trophy once and Daddy (Herbert Yow) was second,” he said.

Yow wasn’t a bad golfer, for that matter. 

When asked the reason for his longevity, he said, “I played golf from the time I was 28 till I was 95. I played all up and down the coast. I had five holes-in-one.

“The last time, I played nine holes and felt bad,” he said, blaming it on low blood sugar. 

Yow had two brothers and two sisters with two still living. Donald and Peggy have passed on but brother Bobby is 91 and sister Jean is 97.

Yow is satisfied now to sit in his room listening to classic country music or talking with other residents. He admits to loving ice cream and telling jokes, some of which can be told in mixed company.

“I’ve been through a whole lot,” he said, “some things I can remember, some I can’t.”