PERRYSBURG, Ohio — Bob Masters turns 99 years old on Halloween, but you'd never know it.
He's sharp-witted and still quick on his feet, but after 65 years, he knew it was time to sell the family home in Perrysburg and make a move to Genesis Village senior living.
For closing on the sale at TriSun Land Services, Masters' realtor, Dick Helminiak, arranged a ride from Childers Limo and a framed photo of the house he built in the '50s and raised his three kids in.
While selling now is the right thing to do, Masters said it's bittersweet.
“I felt a little for the children. They won't be coming home for the holidays, It was their home, too, but it's a little discouraging in some ways," he said. "But life has to go on."
His daughter, Susan Dirr, knew the decision was for the best.
"The bottom line is when he decided he'd been alone too long sitting in this kitchen too long, he needed to make a move, so, ultimately, it was his courage," she said.
Masters graduated from Liberty Center High School in 1943 and joined the Navy, serving two years in the Pacific on the USS Enterprise. That aircraft carrier turned out to be the most decorated ship for the U.S. in World War II.
During one Japanese attack, Masters said he saw a plane heading his way drop a bomb right under him.
It bounced a couple of times and "two pieces hit underneath me. It broke the fuse off it," he said.
Had the 500-pound bomb not fallen apart on impact, he would have been killed.