Neil Van Sickle walks every day, is an avid reader currently making his way through the works of Winston Churchill and he attends church every Sunday.

Van Sickle recently celebrated his 103rd birthday on July 8.

The secret to such a long life?

“Don’t die,” he says with a smile.

Van Sickle is a retired Air Force Major General who was the deputy inspector general at the U.S. Air Force headquarters in Washington, D.C.

He was born July 8, 1915 in Minot, North Dakota. His military career began in 1932 when he enlisted in the North Dakota National Guard and two years later he was appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point. He then transferred to the Army Air Corps after completing flying school. He served in the Air Force in various command and staff positions during World War II and the Cold War.

He had a distinguished military career, serving in diplomatic, congressional liaison and high-level operational and training activities. As a command pilot he logged more than 7,000 hours military flying all types of aircraft. He is well-known in aviation for his textbook “Modern Airmanship.”

Van Sickle is quick to pass off his military career, saying he doesn’t have much of a story to tell.

Van Sickle retired August 1968. His decorations include the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal, Air Medal with two oak leaf clusters and the Air Force Commendation Medal.

Following his retirement, he had a second career operating a horse ranch in the Black Hills of South Dakota where he was an instructor at an equestrian center.

Van Sickle was married to his wife Marge for 47 years before she passed away. He and his second wife, Faye, relocated to the Flathead Valley before she passed away after 26 years of marriage. He has four children, and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Both Neil and Faye were active in the Flathead Valley philanthropically.

At the age of 88, he was hiking around Herron Park in Kalipsell. He finally gave up driving at age 100.

At age 96, he published a book he co-authored about the North American fur trade, called “The Indian Way: Indians and the North American Fur Trade” following 17 years of research and travel with Faye.

Van Sickle moved into The Springs at Whitefish this spring. He shares stories about his military career and reads as much as possible. Always the military man, he watches what he eats and remains physically active taking walks around the outside of the building of the retirement community.

“I walk,” he says. “But I’m not very fast.”