Princeton Health & Fitness Center honors WW2 veteran turning 100

PRINCETON, W. Va. (WVVA) – The Princeton Health and Fitness Center is celebrating its 27th anniversary this year, holding an annual celebration and a waived joining fee this month to mark the occasion.

This year, however, they are also using this celebration to honor a milestone of one of their longtime members who will be turning one hundred years old.

Leonard “Whitey” Beckett is a World War 2 veteran who will be celebrating a century of life next month. He likes cars and traveling, having been to all 50 states and to about 400 NASCAR races.

After getting out of the automotive business after more than three decades, Beckett started working with wood and continues working with it to this day.

He sometimes sets up a booth at the Princeton Health and Fitness Center to sell some of what he’s made, but he still has a membership to the center as well. Beckett remembers joining the Center shortly after it opened and kept coming back year after year to keep active.

“Actually, it was my wife’s idea. She, back at that time, she wanted… the water aerobics…” recalls Beckett, “…I had been… walking just around out down the street and what have you… and then come out here and, why, I enjoyed it…”

Beckett says he enjoys what he does and enjoys life, adding that God has been good to him.

The member services director of Princeton Health and Fitness Center, Brenda Woodward, says they love Beckett and always encourage him to come and set up his booth, adding that he sets an example for anyone wanting to be healthy.

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