Turning 102 on Wednesday, however, his voice remains steady, his memory remains clear.

Turning 100, let alone 102, is something he never gave much thought to. “Time just flew along.”

Born in 1912 in in the Cutawhiskie Swamp area of Northampton County, the family farmed until the Great Depression.

Brown, center, with Manning, left, and Hux.

With a promise of jobs in the textile mills of Roanoke Rapids, the family sold their possessions and moved to Halifax County.

Brown, who at the time was 50 percent color blind, ran the dye department of the Simmons Mill. “They didn't have the colors they did later,” he said at Signature HealthCARE in Roanoke Rapids where he is a resident.

The promise of future promotions at the mill didn't pan out and he found another job in Virginia that forced him to stay away from home during the weekday and come home on weekends.

Frank Rightmyer, however, needed a carpenter and put Brown to work.

That job would eventually lead him to a job with Rufus Hux for almost 30 years.

Congratulations from the governor.

“I built several churches,” he said. “Anybody that wanted something worked on I would help them. I built my own house.”

Brown is a World War II veteran, drafted in either 1942 or 1943 into the Army. “I was drafted but didn't back up when they called me. They sent me to the Hawaiian Islands.”

He became a member of the signal corps setting up communications on Iwo Jima, Saipan, Eniwetok and other battlegrounds in the Pacific Theater. “I didn't get to raise the flag,” he said of the iconic Iwo Jima photo. “I can imagine them climbing that hill to do it.”

Brown's son, Graham, who is better known as Sammy, visited his father for his birthday.

Sammy, who is 78, and lives in the Triangle, says longevity runs in the family. “Dad was able to go squirrel hunting well into his 90s. He's always been straight forward, honest and hard-working. He's never been afraid to work.”

Shirley Tidwell, activities director for Signature, said Howard is the oldest resident of the facility. “He always has a kind word. When we tell him we love him he says that he loves us, too, and you know it.”

Howard said he's never given much thought to the secret of a long life. “I think it's working hard.”

Halifax County Commissioners Rives Manning and Rachel Hux presented Howard a proclamation honoring him on behalf of the county.

“It means a lot,” Manning said of Howard. “He has experience he can impart to us. We don't have to make the same mistakes if we pay attention.”