Stanley Paluch celebrates his 100th birthday, April 17, in his hometown’s St. Clair Shores Civic Arena where he skates once a week. Paluch uses a custom made walker to help him on the ice. —Photo: Mandi Wright/Detroit Free Press

When Stanley Paluch turned 90, he received an offer that might sound preposterous.

Once Paluch reached 95, he was told, he could ice-skate all he wanted, free.

So, when the longtime Warren resident ticked off his 95th year in 2003, he showed up at the St. Clair Shores Civic Arena Ice Skating Rink to claim his prize.

"The manager told him, 'Come see me at 95, and you'll skate for free,' " said Fran Watts, front desk clerk at the rink. "At 95, he showed up at the desk. He wanted his free skating. He didn't forget."

Mr. Paluch looks over his birthday cake.  —Photo: Mandi Wright/Detroit Free Press

Five years later, at age 100, Paluch is still taking the rink up on its offer, skating two hours every Tuesday.

To be fair, Paluch is a skater from way back, and until age 95 a roller-skater, too, including a long stint in competitions.

He loves the rink so much that it's where he went on April 17 to celebrate a century here on Earth.

The friends he's skated with for years were there. So were some of his family members and a handful of reporters and photographers.

He smiled almost constantly and savored the attention.

"This is great," he said.

Except for the birthday cake, party decorations and the fuss over Paluch -- whose age may seem a rarity but actually puts him in a fast-growing segment -- it was much like his usual day of skating.

He laced on the skates -- "This is the hardest part," he said -- that he's worn for years.

"They're made in England," he said proudly. He put on his black helmet and elbow pads and went round and round the rink.

The topic of the day was Paluch's life span, and he was asked over and over: "What's your secret?"

"No secret," Paluch says.

Even the people asking the question suspected they knew the answer: Paluch loves life.

Staying active

Besides roller-skating until 95 and his weekly ice-skating -- which, until two years ago, he did without the aid of a walker fitted with something like blades -- Paluch swims, practices tai chi and rides a stationary bike.

As late as his 50s, he and his wife, Dorothy, were competitors in roller-skate dancing for years, often winning tri-state competitions. They have five gold medals.

They are world travelers, having visited 80 countries, every U.S. state and every continent.

He mowed his lawn, trimmed his bushes and shoveled his snow until two years ago, when he and Dorothy moved out of their Warren home into a Warren apartment complex for senior citizens.

"He puts me and my husband to shame," his daughter, Eve Cosnowski of Dayton, Ohio, said while watching her dad skate around last week.

That is not to say that Paluch is a how-to for long and healthy living. Though he never smoked and rarely drank to excess, Paluch "stays away from fruits and vegetables," says his wife, who is 87.

"And he eats four to five pastries a day," she added.

Stanley Paluch somehow has avoided medication, a marvel to his daughter, who is a nurse.

His only ailments are macular degeneration and an equilibrium problem, which was the reason for beginning to use a walker two years ago.

Actually, he carries the walker more than walks with it.

The day of his party at the rink, he arrived in a car driven by his son-in-law, Walter Cosnowski.

While Paluch waited, the walker was brought to him. He grabbed it with gusto, stood up and proceeded to walk to the door, briskly. The walker never touched the ground.

Life of parties

His determination and independence may have something to do with Paluch's never seeing himself as old.

Paluch balked when his wife, family and friends decided a few years ago that it would be better for them to sell their home and move into Windemere Park Senior Community on Van Dyke.

"He was no way going to live with old people," his daughter said.

As it turned out, Paluch loves living at Windemere. There are parties. He's often the life of them. There are shows. He's always in them. There regularly is something to do and always people to talk to.

Stanley Paluch has another daughter, Pamela Cohen of Sherman Oaks, Calif., seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

They all reported to Michigan for a weekend-long celebration that featured three parties.

In the lobby of the ice rink, a cake decorated with skates awaited his arrival. Friends signed a poster with wishes such as: "You shouldn't worry about getting old. It's too late for that." "You rock, Stanley!" "Stan the Man ... Tell me your secret."

Rink celebrity

He is like a celebrity at the rink. Everyone wants to tell their Stanley story.

Dennis Ashley met Paluch on the rink not long after Ashley decided to take up skating as a retirement pastime.

"I saw him one time skating along when a new guy was on the rink. I hear Stan yell, 'Look out, youngster!' The guy was in his 70s," Ashley said.

"He's living history," said Ashley, who lives in Warren and skates weekly with Paluch and a group. At 64, Ashley is 36 years Paluch's junior. "He saw Babe Ruth play. He's seen so much. It's unbelievable. It's a joy talking to him. His memory is great. So is his sense of humor."

Paluch glides by. As he rounds a far corner, a few of his skating friends come to him with cameras, taking pictures and wishing him "Happy birthday."

Paluch poses. He keeps smiling. Then he sets his walker device aside and does the moonwalk, the famous backward sliding motion made famous by Michael Jackson.

Betty Nelson of Grosse Pointe Farms often drives Paluch home to Warren after skating is over.

"If I had to drive an hour, I would," she said. "If you're 100 and you want to skate, you should be able to skate."

Plus, she gets to hear his stories.

His stories

The basics include his career as a bus mechanic for the City of Detroit. He retired from there in 1973 at age 65.

At around age 20, he delivered milk for a Detroit creamery from a horse-drawn wagon. He had 250 customers.

He also delivered telegrams for a time, and during World War II, he was in the Philippines teaching GIs how to repair trucks.

He had two sisters and a brother who died in World War I.

At about age 6, Paluch lost his father in an accident while riding a streetcar in Indianapolis. When the car made a hard stop, Paluch's dad made sure to hold on to his son.

"It threw me to the ground and knocked me out," Paluch said. "My dad fell and hit his head. He died five hours later."

His mother, he said, received $100 from the streetcar operator. "That's what they said my dad's life was worth -- $100."

In 1915, he and his mother moved to Detroit after she remarried.

Lorraine LaVoie, a skater who has known Paluch for about 30 years, cut short her visit to Florida to return home to St. Clair Shores for the skating party.

"I wouldn't miss it," she said. "You know he cut his own lawn and his own bushes. He was in his 90s. I asked him, 'Don't you get tired?' He said, 'I just rest in between.' "

With few exceptions, he skates every Tuesday from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.

His daughter, like so many of us, can only dream of what it might be like to be in her dad's skates one day.

"Just think of yourself on your 100th birthday going out there and lacing up your skates," his daughter said. "He puts us to shame."

Newstex ID: KRTB-0048-24818374