Roy Dunning, 97, is the oldest senior citizen at the Newcastle Senior Citizen’s Center, and he’s also the September Senior of the Month.
Dunning’s grandparents settled on the South Canadian River in the Oklahoma Land Run. Dunning was born and raised in Newcastle.
He had an identical twin brother and they would switch places when dating and switch seats in class. They got caught once when a test was given and the teacher asked him for the answer that “he” had written on “his” paper.
Since his brother took his test, he answered it wrong. Busted!
Dunning graduated high school in 1944 and he attended college at the University of Oklahoma. In 1948 he married Wilma Jean “Tootsie” Thomas. They have one daughter, Carol “Dunning” Grover.
At that same time he began work on the “Dunning family land” with his father as dairy farmers.
Roy fondly calls Newcastle home and would tell you it is a good place to live.
The biggest change he has seen while living here is all the recent houses and additions that have been built.
If you ask him how he has lived so long, he would say, “Hard work.”
When asked what advice he would give to someone younger, he would say, “Hang in there and don’t give up.”
A spokesperson for the Senior Center said Roy is mentally sharp and can give accurate history of Newcastle about the past 100 years. Be sure and stop and talk to him any time you see him, she said.
