Though his birth certificate says otherwise, longtime Oglethorpe County resident Forrest Neely didn’t turn 100 on June 6. He turned 36,525.
That’s because throughout Neely’s century on the planet, he’s rejected thinking about life in terms of years. Instead, he takes it day by day.
“I’ll tell everybody this: Live today because you’re here,” Neely said. “This is today, and you’re in it. Have fun and enjoy every minute of it. You may never see tomorrow, so live today.”
Two days after his 100th — or his 36,525th birthday, as he’d say — on June 8, Neely’s friends and family gathered to celebrate with a two-hour party at Winterville United Methodist Church’s fellowship hall.
“These people, I love ’em to death,” Neely said. “I love everybody, but they’re special. This church always had a special love for me.”
The venue was adorned with relics of his past.
A table near the entrance displayed photos from his four-year stint in the U.S. Navy during World War II. A small basket featured replicas of Neely’s artwork, a skill he learned while earning his Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Georgia.
The venue itself is where Neely, the longtime owner of Farmer’s Hardware in Athens, would go every Sunday during his more than 50 years as an active member of the church.
In fact, his dedication to the church brought him back to Winterville for the party from Folly Beach, South Carolina, where he has lived with his youngest daughter Mitzi Neely since the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I needed some major work done at the house, and Daddy said, ‘Well, I’ll come down there and oversee the job,’ because he built the house,” Mitzi Neely said. “Two weeks later, COVID broke out, and in the meantime, he’s (been) with me, but (Winterville) is really home.”
Everyone at the celebration had a favorite memory.
Mitzi Neely recalled how her father would hide the girls’ Valentine’s Day candy and offer a treasure map to find it. His eldest daughter Debbie Neely Tolbert remembers him teaching her to drive a stick shift in a pasture behind Robert Hardeman Road. Debbie’s husband Tony regaled anyone who would listen about Neely’s boxing career while in the Navy.
“I appreciated his values as a child and grew up that way, because he brought us up to be respectful, to tell the truth,” Neely Tolbert said. “He brought us up to believe in ourselves and believe we can do anything.”
Neely has no particular secret to reaching the centennial milestone. On the contrary, he sees himself as anything but special.
“I haven’t figured it out,” he said. “I’m just a regular guy who grew up, went to school, went into the service.”
Whether or not Neely is regular, he will continue to abide by his “day-at-a-time” philosophy, only 24 hours away from his next milestone.
Wyatt Meyer will be a senior at Clarke Central High School in Athens in the fall.