Dr. Joseph Evans Baldridge was born on October 9, 1889 to Annie McLaughlin Baldridge and John Howard Baldridge, probably on the Baldridge Farm, in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, near Latrobe.  His Grandmother was Martha Beatty.  Legend has it, her grandfather, Benjamin Beatty, was with the troops that crossed the Delaware with George on December 25, 1776 and surprised the British. The Battle of Trenton victory was a turning point in the War.  We still have the cherry four poster bed Dr. Joe slept in as a child, along with a Beatty rocking chair and a quilt made by Martha Beatty.

He left us in February 1990, four months after the celebrating his 100th birthday.  He told my Mother in January that he had made it to his 100th birthday and through the holidays, and it was time to go. He is buried along with several generations of Baldridges, McLaughlins, and Beattys in Unity Cemetery near his birthplace, Latrobe, PA. 

The Baldridges may have been from Dunfermline Scotland, originally.  We still have a grandfather clock from nearby Perth. Here's a photo of West Baldridge Farm in Dunfermline.  It is remarkably similar to my memory of the Baldridge farm where Dr. Joe grew up.  (still looking for that photo). Best I can estimate from Ancestry is that the Baldridge’s moved to Northern Ireland and then to America along with many other Scotch-Irish in search of religious and economic freedom.

On his 100th birthday, Dr.. Joe was featured on NBC's Today Show by Willard Scott who shared that he outlived three wives and "loved them all."  Later that day, the local NBC affiliate interviewed him at the barber shop which opened on Columbus Day just to give him a free haircut. The interviewer asked what was the most remarkable advancement in his lifetime.  Considering he was born before the telephone, airplanes or space flight, he claimed that the most important advancement was . . . the forward pass.  As you'll see he played college football for Washington & Jefferson College in the early days when everyone played both offense and defense and the only way to pass a ball was laterally. Reminding us that everything is relative to your perspective, what resonates with one person, may not with another. I'd bet somewhere in these quotes you'll find a perspective that resonates with you. 

The value of a different perspective comes through as you read these quotes. A different perspective can change the way you look at an event - from a negative to a positive. The ambiguity of life is a recurring theme in Dr. Joe's quotes. He certainly experienced ups and downs, marrying the "love of his life" (as he described her at the dinner table when he was 100), the birth of his son, the Depression coming along in his late thirties, then the birth of my mother (which must have been a surprise), then the premature death of his wife about nine years later.

Dr. Joe expected human existence to have its ups and downs.  In May 1976, Dr. Joe wrote "CREEDS" and sent it to everyone to whom he sent these many pages of quotes:​

He graduated from Latrobe High School, Washington & Jefferson College, and University of Pittsburgh Dental School.  Here's the entry for him in the W&J Yearbook:​

"F. & W. (1); Contributor to 'Red and Black', (1); Track Team, (1,2); Y.M.C.A; Football Squad (3); Pandora Board (3).
Listen! What hear we? Is this a disciple of Baldy McClelland's? Yea, verily his voice gives it away. How long oh, Kay, will he abuse thy patience: Joe is a track team man and some writeist. His strong fort is the Y.M.C.A. but when he turned his effort toward the betterment of the book - Say Fellows, we don't know Joe - he simply KILLED his chances for an H in Theism. As a member of Dave's crew he proved himself loyal to his Alma Mater by working for his Alma Mater by working for his position on the Squad.  Joe is a hard working individual, and his efforts are appreciated by the editor of this publication."​

The reference to "Kay" is his future wife, Katherine Haldeman, who was attending the woman's seminary near W&J. (Thank goodness they didn't refer to her by her childhood nickname, "Puss")​

Dr. Joe discovered his other "love", football, while at Washington and Jefferson, where he played Tackle on the team. In his day, W&J played in major college football competition.  In fact, Dr. Joe probably cheered his team on from afar in 1922 when W&J played the University of California in the Rose Bowl.

As I publish these quotes, I realize he read a lot - a lot more than we do today.  And he draws from a wide diversity of writers.  Some I've never heard of so I have researched them online and linked to a source that identifies them.  When I read these quotes, I realize three things:

1. The first is many of the writers from the 19th century write a lot about their appreciation of the beauty of nature.  Maybe that's because the 19th century was a transition from agriculture to the industrial age, changing the perspective from which we saw nature.  During the agricultural era nature was the adversary (something to tame).  But during the Industrial Age it became something of beauty to look at.  Of course, as industry grew in the 20th century, appreciation of capital overshadowed appreciation of nature.  These days, there is a renewed appreciation of nature because we are losing it.  When I was a kid you could see the Milky Way in the night sky on any clear night at Lake Chautauqua.  Today, it is not visible due to the ambient light from more densely populated centers or maybe air pollution?  Reading these quotes reminds me how little time we spend looking at, enjoying, and appreciating nature. 

2. Secondly, they say that history repeats itself.  Which means we humans make the same mistakes again and again. When you read these quotes you wonder why we haven't learned from our mistakes.  I was particularly stunned by the compelling relevance of Kipling today when researching the internet to make a link to his bio. ​My nephew is heading to Afghanistan in a couple of months (this is 2013). And it is really demoralizing to read this from Kipling, written almost 200 years ago:

   When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains,

   And the women come out to cut up what remains,

   Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains

   An' go to your Gawd like a soldier.

   Rudyard Kipling, Young British Soldier

3. Dr. Joe's Creed ends with the line: "I'm on my way to a fairer shore, where nobody gets the toothache, and nobody goes to war!"  He was a Dentist and a Soldier.  He never talked about either as my Grandfather when I was growing up.  But I received a lot of letters with a page or two of quotes enclosed on a regular basis. 

​On his 100 birthday interview, they asked Dr. Joe what he enjoyed the most. Teaching was the answer, which he did after college and before completing dentistry school. He may not have made a career of teaching, but he did spend a lot of time reading and noting and typing these quotes.  They are a goldmine of gems to build upon. And that would be the best kind of teacher, I think, to prepare young people for the future. As first Isaac Newton and then Steve Jobs reflect: