HEIDELBERG, Germany - If you've ever ventured out to the Heidelberg Golf Course for a round or two of golf, there's a good chance you've laid eyes on Rex Gribble.
Most often you'll find him patrolling the lush green courses in his golf cart or on foot assisting players while decked out in his customary canary-yellow jacket.
Gribble's been a familiar fixture around the community since the early 1950s.
He's worked as a starter marshal for the club since his retirement in 1988, first as a volunteer and now as a part-time employee of U.S. Army Garrison Baden-WAfA1/4rttemberg and at age 89, he's also the garrison's oldest employee.
However, Gribble himself will be the first to tell you he really had no plans to pick up a second career quite so soon but his wife of 53 years, Rachel, "wanted him out of the house" and graciously "volunteered" his services to the club where he's been ever since.
"I meet all kinds of people, and it keeps me going," Gribble said. "At the golf course everybody calls me Rex - Germans and Americans. Now I'm 89, and my memory is not as good. Often times I can't remember their name, but I know their face and I know them. I just can't say the name, but I say hi and we laugh and we talk and have a good time."
Carlos Villanueva is a recreation assistant at the Heidelberg Golf Course and he's worked with Gribble for the past 11 years.
"He's very easy going," Villanueva said. "When it comes to the job, he's extremely well-versed in keeping the times of golfers."
As a starter marshal, it's Gribble's responsibility to control the speed of play on the golf course.
"He's extremely good at what he does, even at 89 years old," Villanueva said. "We joke all the time. He's got a good sense of humor, and I like to play tricks with him. If I see a picture of a World War II pilot or biplane I always write the name Rex over it and put in the guard shack. I say 'Rex I think I saw you.' All of us say if we're at that age and we can be like that, we'd be very happy. He's just like a regular guy in his 40s."
When Gribble's not working the greens, you might spot a glimpse of him at Patton Barracks Fitness Center where he routinely works out about four days a week.
Up until last year, you could catch him zipping down a pair of snowy ski slopes, before his wife made him hang up the hobby out of fear he'd injure himself.
He served as president of the Heidelberg International Ski Club for several years and he organized ski trips known as the "Great Gribble Getaways." He still attends the club meetings.
Gribble said every morning he starts his day in front of his computer monitoring the financial markets and his investments, getting the news, checking his e-mail and catching up on the latest sports scores.
Despite having nearly nine decades of experience under his belt, Gribble's memory and wit have remained razor-sharp. The former pilot and journalist vividly recalled everything from his days as a P-38 fighter pilot flying missions in the Pacific, to developing photographs in the basement of what is now the Heidelberg Health Center.
Gribble served in the Army Air Corps from 1943-1946 and flew 106 combat missions, but surprisingly he never shot anyone down.
"It was a tie, zero to zero, but let me tell you it's better than winning four to one. I shoot four of them down and they shoot me down," he said.
On Aug. 30, 1945, the young first lieutenant was selected as one of eight pilots to fly to Tokyo to represent all of the fighter pilots in the Pacific as part of Gen. Douglas MacArthur's "Air Honor Guard."
Just a few days later, MacArthur accepted Japan's formal surrender aboard the battleship the USS Missouri. The original surrender announcement came Aug. 14. Both dates are referred to as Victory in Japan Day.
"It was a lot of fun being there after the war; it was nothing like what people have to go through now in Afghanistan. The war was over," Gribble said, who called the event "his day in the sun."
"It's different now from the time I was in (the military). All these deployments down range are difficult. It's a war and it's not a war, and there are always risks. I've always had a lot of respect for the military and what they're doing. I have a nephew in Afghanistan, and I worry about him."
Gribble left the military in February 1946 and began studying journalism at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. He fondly remembered conversations with one of his fellow college classmates who would go on to become a late-night television legend.
"I was there when Johnny Carson was a student there. He gave me and another fellow the best advice you could ever give anybody, and we didn't take it. He was in the radio and he said, 'Hey guys get over here to my building. Television is around the corner.' I saw him all the time and he was from Nebraska, too," he said.
After school, Gribble went to work for the Lincoln Star Newspaper, the third biggest newspaper in Nebraska at the time, for about three years before packing his bags and heading back overseas, this time to Germany.
The Nebraska native arrived in Heidelberg on a slow boat Aug. 6, 1951. He took a job in the office of public information at U. S. Army Europe headquarters where he would later go on to become chief of what is now the Public Affairs Office.
Gribble married Rachel, now a retired special education teacher, in 1957, and the couple later had two girls.
He admitted he and Rachel are just about ready to move back to the States permanently.
As his 90th birthday creeps closer, Gribble credits daily exercise, family and a beer or two as the main keys to his longevity.
For those looking to follow in his footsteps, he offers this advice: "Don't become a couch hound watching TV. You've got to get up and get out in the morning and go do something."
When asked if he thought he'd be fortunate enough to live such a long and full life, Gribble seemed slightly unfazed.
"You know I never really thought about it. To me I just want to keep going as long as I can, full bore ahead," he said. "I had two brothers, younger, and they both died a few years ago, and I'm out here at 89. I keep wondering. It's genes a lot of it. I'm convinced."
Gribble also continues to keep his journalism skills sharp as a sports writer for the Herald Post where he submits articles on golf tournament action.
He will celebrate his 90th birthday in March and currently has no plans to retire (again) anytime soon.
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