- Feb 5, 2002
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On most days, Jim Campagna’s starts the day driving himself tovmorning Mass at either Cathedral of the Holy Spirit or St. Mary’s Pro-Cathedral in Bismarck, North Dakota where he is a parishioner. Not bad for someone who will turn 100 on December 21 this year.
"I put God first in my life.” he said in an interview after Mass. “I know every day might be my last day, but as long as I’m ready, that’s all that matters.”
When he was born in 1923, life expectancy was 56.1 years for men and 58.5 for women. Antibiotics had not been invented yet—that would happen in 1928 with penicillin— so childhood illnesses and tuberculosis were leading causes of death.
When the Great Depression began in 1929, Campagna, the seventh of ten children, was only six years old. He’s the only one left now. “We walked about 1 ½ mile to school where I went to first grade. I remember the rough winters,” he recalled.
“A widow lived a mile north of us on the top of a hill and one day Mom told me to go check on her,” he recalled. “I was 6 years old. She was okay and gave me a slice of boughten bread. It was so sweet. Oh, was it good.”
Back then, sending a young child a mile away was not out of the ordinary. He was close with his brothers Albert and Reynald who were 4 and 6 years older respectively. In mild weather, the three of them slept up in the barn where a goat would follow them up the steps and sleep with them. Campagna remembers the first prayer he said on his own was after he grabbed a horse’s tail and was kicked into the air. “When I came down,” he said, “I Iost my breath. I prayed, ‘God, I don’t want to die,’ and my breath came back.”
His family moved into town in 1932 when he was in the fourth grade at the public school. He assumes their pastor told his parents the children should be at the Catholic school, so he switched to St. Mary’s school. To earn spending money when he was 14, Campagna would buy newspapers for 2 cents and sell them downtown for a nickel. “I remember if I had 20 cents if felt like a lot,” he said.
Continued below.
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"I put God first in my life.” he said in an interview after Mass. “I know every day might be my last day, but as long as I’m ready, that’s all that matters.”
When he was born in 1923, life expectancy was 56.1 years for men and 58.5 for women. Antibiotics had not been invented yet—that would happen in 1928 with penicillin— so childhood illnesses and tuberculosis were leading causes of death.
When the Great Depression began in 1929, Campagna, the seventh of ten children, was only six years old. He’s the only one left now. “We walked about 1 ½ mile to school where I went to first grade. I remember the rough winters,” he recalled.
“A widow lived a mile north of us on the top of a hill and one day Mom told me to go check on her,” he recalled. “I was 6 years old. She was okay and gave me a slice of boughten bread. It was so sweet. Oh, was it good.”
Back then, sending a young child a mile away was not out of the ordinary. He was close with his brothers Albert and Reynald who were 4 and 6 years older respectively. In mild weather, the three of them slept up in the barn where a goat would follow them up the steps and sleep with them. Campagna remembers the first prayer he said on his own was after he grabbed a horse’s tail and was kicked into the air. “When I came down,” he said, “I Iost my breath. I prayed, ‘God, I don’t want to die,’ and my breath came back.”
His family moved into town in 1932 when he was in the fourth grade at the public school. He assumes their pastor told his parents the children should be at the Catholic school, so he switched to St. Mary’s school. To earn spending money when he was 14, Campagna would buy newspapers for 2 cents and sell them downtown for a nickel. “I remember if I had 20 cents if felt like a lot,” he said.
Continued below.
A 100 Year Walk with Christ
On most days, Jim Campagna’s starts the day driving himself tovmorning Mass at either Cathedral of the Holy Spirit or St. Mary’s Pro-Cathedr...
