Nodlinski no ordinary 100-year-old

Milford Nodlinski, more commonly known as “Pete,” will celebrate his 100th birthday on Friday, Dec 1. 

Turning 100 is significant enough, however Nodlinski is no ordinary 100-year-old. 

“Everyone always asks, why you living so long? Well I drank good whiskey when I was young,” he joked.

He not only has a great memory and wonderful sense of humor, he is still living at home, using a cell phone and driving the grain cart on his family’s farm in Brule.

The farm, originally plotted and run by Nodlinski’s father, is now operated under the skilled hands of his youngest son, Bob, and grandson, Jeff.

The family farms roughly 3,000 acres, including wheat, corn, millet, sunflowers, peas and beans. 

Nodlinski’s father moved to Brule in 1915 and moved the family to the farm when Nodlinski was 4 years old. 

When recounting his childhood, one of the first memories he shared was driving a tractor at age 10 for his father, who was a Gates tractor dealer. 

Nodlinski laughed about how the neighbor boys, older than he was, watched him drive the tractor. 

He attended Perkins County High School and helped his father on the farm throughout his school years. 

Nodlinski took over the farm at the age of 24 following the passing of his father.

After running the farm for several decades, Nodlinski retired from full-time farming and turned the reins over to Bob in the early 1980s. 

Nodlinski spent time painting tractors to prepare them for Tharp’s sales in Grant, helping friends harvest beets and repairing tractors. 

The first of March each year, he heads back to the farm.

“I don’t have any hobbies,” he said. “I try to get two to three bushels more than my neighbors. That’s my hobby!”

Though the tractor he really likes to drive only has three steps, versus four, he still manages to get in the tractor and help his family each year. 

“As long as I can get in and sit down, I don’t have any problems,” he said. 

Dorothy Stephenson, Nodlinski’s wife of 64 years until her passing, also attended PCHS, but their romance didn’t start until she was home from college for a weekend and rode with Nodlinksi and his date to a dance in Julesburg, Colorado.

“She was a pretty good dancer. I danced with her quite a bit. And I guess she thought I was a pretty good dancer too,” he said with a chuckle.  

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