Herman Schaekel Jr. holds a proclamation issued by Hancock County Board of Commissioners President John Jessup recognizing his 100th birthday and contributions to the county.
Mitchell Kirk | Daily Reporter
HANCOCK COUNTY – Herman Schaekel Jr. swiped proudly through photos of his family on his tablet device in his room at Springhurst Health Campus in Greenfield.
The hands that grazed the touchscreen are the same ones that hitched horses when he started farming and repaired steam locomotives when he began working for railroads.
“I’ve seen a lot of changes,” he said.
The longtime Hancock County resident turns 100 on Sunday. He spent decades rooted in local agricultural activities and credits keeping busy for leading a long and healthy life.
Schaekel was born on Aug. 28, 1922 in New Bethel, delivered at home by Dr. William Larrabee of New Palestine, who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1931 to 1943. He went to school in Acton.
At age 5 in 1928, he saw Herbert Hoover en route to Indianapolis on the presidential campaign trail.
“And my dad, working for the railroad, knew he was coming on a special train,” Schaekel said. “And mother took me down to Acton and we stood on the station platform and when he went through, he was in the observation car at the back and he waved at mother and I.”
They went to Butler Fieldhouse later that evening to hear the future president speak.
Schaekel remembered getting his first car during World War II.
“I traded 845 bushel of corn for a new automobile because the dealer had a farm and wanted some corn,” he said.
He moved to Hancock County in 1951, and had the only farmhouse on Ind. 67 between Fortville and McCordsville at the time. He raised Berkshire hogs.
Schaekel also worked for railroad companies that operated in the area.
“Any trouble on the engines, I went out and worked on them,” he said.
He showed hogs at the Indiana State Fair for about 50 years. After showing for the first time in 1933, he attended all state fairs until the last two. He showed hogs all over the central U.S. as well.
Schaekel was active in the Hancock County 4-H Fair, including as leader of the dairy department. His children showed dairy cattle. He was a 4-H leader in Vernon Township for about a decade.
He also inspected grain bins throughout the county.
“You used to get loans on them,” he recalled. “Farmers would turn in how many bushel was in there and they could get a loan, and I’d have to check it for quality and quantity.”
Another one of his roles was measuring set-aside ground – land the government would pay farmers to not farm for conservation purposes.
When he stopped working, he started volunteering at Hancock Regional Hospital as a greeter and repairing wheelchairs, racking up thousands of hours.
“I had to have something to do,” he said. “I couldn’t sit around.”
As his four children grew up, he saw the consolidation that resulted in the Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation.
He’ll celebrate his birthday on Sunday at his daughter’s home in Indianapolis.
Schaekel also has five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
His first wife, Irma, passed away in 2011. The couple was married for 66 years.
John Jessup, president of the Hancock County Board of Commissioners, recently issued a proclamation recognizing Schaekel for his long life and contributions to the county.
Schaekel was recovering from a colon cancer treatment at Springhurst Health Campus before heading back to his residence at Traditions at Brookside in McCordsville.
Staying busy and maintaining a healthy lifestyle, he said, are likely the reasons behind his long life.
“I didn’t get into any meanness,” he said. “I never smoked, I never drank, and I think that had a lot to do with it. I didn’t get into any meanness because I was busy on the farm.”
That’s his advice to others striving for a century.
“Keep busy, for one thing,” he said. “That keeps you out of meanness. And lead a clean life.”
