By Gregg L. Parker
Madison Magazine

Sherwin Callander recently drove his mint-condition, metallic blue 1978 Volvo station wagon from Florida to Madison. He is 89 and decided to live near his daughter.

"My daughter drove the truck and trailer with my bed and desk," Callander said. "I drove my Volvo because my son-in-law has tunnel vision. But he helped with directions." Callander relays his contagious personality with a high dose of optimism. His attitude is as bright as his red, tartan-plaid tam.

He readily hands out his business cards that state "Chick Magnet." Other than having a pacemaker and bad knee, he's in outstanding shape.

Born in Canada in 1920, Callander was three when his family moved to the United States. The Great Depression forced his parents to send him back to Canada at age 12 to live with his grandparents. "I had two paper routes and sold magazines," he said.

Back in the United States, he worked in a Civilian Conservation Corps or CCC camp in California at age 15. "I made $30 a month -- $25 went home."

Boxing attracted Callander. Winners won $15, losers $3. For one bout, his opponent didn't seem tough. "If I raised my arm straight, he could walk under." However, the short boxer pummeled him in the first round. "For round two, I got in the ring and just laid down. I took the $3."

By 1939, he had entered the U.S. Navy in San Diego. He sailed through the Panama Canal to Boston, worked in the Brooklyn Navy Yard as a machinist and traveled to Australia and Morocco.

On Dec. 5, 1941, he was stationed at Wake Island when the news hit: Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor. Callander and his fellow sailors deployed immediately "to Pearl. We helped with cleanup. Bodies were in the water. When you lifted a head out of the water, you didn't know if a body would be attached."

Settling in Norfolk, Va., he started his own plumbing business. He and his first wife, even in a rocky relationship, raised three children.

He took great pride as a Scoutmaster. He once confronted a father who had beaten his son with a belt - the buckle end. "Boys need tender loving care just like girls," Callander said.

Fishing is his favorite pastime, especially when he took his boat out from Norfolk on the Chesapeake Bay on weekends. In winter, splashes of saltwater formed icicles on the boat. "I just took a nip of vodka to stay warm."

Cribbage is another hobby. "I'm trying to get a group started here," he said.

He and his second wife retired to Middleberg, Fla. "We were snowbirds from Washington state to Florida in an RV. Those drives just got too long. I told her, 'Let's stay one place or the other."

After his wife's death about three years ago, Callander will always remember a neighbor's kindness. "My neighbor told me, 'I'll see that you have one good meal a day.'"

The neighbor had a hot supper prepared daily as she promised.