Centenarian: Herbert Allen Farrar

Herbert Allen Farrar is celebrating his 100th birthday today. Farrar was born Dec. 28, 1908, in Gardena, Calif. He has been a resident of Spokane for 14 years, and currently lives at the Lilac Plaza Retirement Center.

Farrar met his wife, Mabel Marie Farrar, in Selma, Calif., and the couple were married in 1934. She died in 2005.

In 1927 Farrar took a trip around the world as a cadet officer of the Dollar Steamship Line. In 1932 he graduated from Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, and became a Baptist minister.

Farrar attributes his long and healthy life to modest, natural eating, abstinence, faith in the Lord Jesus, and a happy 71-year marriage.

When asked what his most memorable moment in the past 100 years has been, Farrar mentioned sticking his finger in a crack of the Liberty Bell as it passed through his town in 1918. He also mentioned the bombing of Pearl Harbor during World War II.

Farrar has three children: Yvonne Howe, Yukon Territory, Canada; Lorraine Owens, Spokane; and Janice Farrar, Boulder, Colo. He has five grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild.