John Price of Westminster was surrounded by family and memorabilia from his career in the Navy during his 100th birthday party Sunday. His wife, Nina Price, shares a birthday with the centenarian, but said turning 97 was not as noteworthy as her husband’s big day.
“It’s really not me that is of any attention,” Nina Price said modestly. “It’s about my husband, about his 100th birthday and naval career, and celebrating it with him and all our friends.”
John Price said he was grateful to be surrounded by family on his special day.
“It’s taken me a long time to get here. I don’t have any friends left, maybe one or two. Most of them passed away,” he said.
Sharing a birthday with your wife can be advantageous, he said, because children are more likely to visit for the occasion, and the Prices’ party was especially well attended this year.
“We got all my kids to come in and they’ll be staying all over the place around Westminster,” John Price said, “They’ll be here for a couple of days, getting together. We haven’t seen some of them in many years. It [was] interesting to see some of the grandchildren I [hadn’t] seen yet.”
The Prices share six children and many grandchildren and great grandchildren. Nina Price said their descendants live across the U.S., from California to Maine to Florida, and many places in between. Their offspring had already flown the coop and scattered to the wind by the time the Prices moved to Westminster in 1978.
The birthday party also served to recognize and celebrate John Price’s distinguished service in the Navy, from 1941 to 1962, beginning when he was 17 years old. He said he served his county in World War II and the Korean War as a chief electrician on submarines.
In recognition of his service, Price’s birthday cake had a submarine on it, and the veteran brought several items of military memorabilia to display at the celebration, which was held at John Street Quarters in Westminster.
After his military career, John Price helped build submarines for General Dynamics and lived in Waterford, Connecticut for about 16 years. That era of the couple’s life was ended by a round of mass layoffs at the company, which Nina Price said resulted in the couple moving to Westminster.
“He was in contact with all the contractors down in the Washington/Silver Spring area,” Nina Price said. “The day he was laid off, he got on the phone and started getting in touch with all the contractors that he had worked with, and he got a job in Silver Spring, and that’s when we moved down here in 1978. We’ve been here ever since.”
Nina Price said Westminster has been a great fit for the couple, even if it meant a commute to Silver Spring.
“We went looking for a house, and when we did we looked all over. We looked outside of Westminster and we looked at all the surrounding towns, and we didn’t want to go that far south into the hubbub of Washington and that area,” Nina Price said. “We saw some nice places here in Maryland, and we saw it was rural and we really liked it.”
John and Nina Price both grew up in Bayonne, New Jersey, but the two lived on opposite sides of town and did not meet until John visited his cousin while on shore leave. John’s cousin happened to be Nina’s best friend at the time, and after the two met, they stayed together.
Nina and John have been married for 74 years.
“We’ve had normal years, ups and downs, in and outs like everybody else,” Nina Price said. “We’ve weathered the storms that came, and right now we’ve got smooth sailing.”
John Price said there’s one trick to having both a long life and a happy marriage: “Don’t argue with your wife, you’ll add 10 years to your life.”
