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NILES — Friends and family gathered Friday at Brentwood at Niles Senior Living, 1147 S. 3rd St., to celebrate Stan Kanczuzewski‘s 103rd birthday.

Kanczuzewski was born  Oct. 21, 1919 in South Bend, Ind. He attended Saint Stanislaus Catholic School for grade school before becoming a factory inspector after graduating. Kanczuzewski worked at Bendix, Dodge and Studebaker where he inspected parts coming off the line to make sure they were exactly what they needed to be. He moved from South Bend to Mishawaka when he was 24.
In 1944, he married his wife Ann and the couple enjoyed a marriage of more than 60 years before she passed. Together, they had three children – Carol, Richard and Mary. He has two granddaughters and one grandson. 

In his free time, Kanczuzewski enjoyed a round of golf or spending the day fishing on the lake. He owned a cottage in South Haven and enjoyed family vacations there throughout the summers.

Kanczuzewski loves to read and would spend most of his childhood days at the library soaking up knowledge. He said his only advice to the younger generations is to save your money and mind your own business. While Kanczuzewski is happy to have made it to 103, he does not think he did anything special to reach the milestone.

“I didn’t do anything different from what anyone else was doing,” he said. “I did everything in moderation. We took our vacations as a family and I was an avid camper. That’s the way we enjoyed life, close to the lake. I didn’t do anything spectacular. You just try to live day to day and I guess it worked out for me.”