New Britain herald., 1924-06-16
LOREN ). PENFIELD ] GRINS AT PA TIME Keep Busy" His Advice on 84th
 .. Anniversary of Birth

psycnolosy automatically. He says
 the way to stay young is 10 stay
 young and refuse to become old. He
 ought to know, he has been doing it
 for S4 years. Yesterday was his S4th
 anniversary. He is also a philoso-
 pher, and says the proper way to
 keep young is to keep busy. He be-
 lieves that men like machine grow
 rusty when they stand idle.
 And MT. Penfield does not stand
 idle. Soldier, politician, mechanic,
 painter, contractor. artist he is as
 active at S4 as many men 80 years
 younger. True. like many successful
 men, the former town clerk is re-
 tired. In fact he retires every once
 in awhile, but like the time-worn
 joke about the family clock, when he
 strikes he keeps on working.
 He Can't Stop.
 Yes, I have decided to stop work
 ing and take rest" he says fre-
 auently and the next time visitor
 calls he finds him in overalls, with
 paint can and brush in hand. all set for his Hast job. But the last job,
 like tomorrow, never comes. His
 jobs last and for that reason there's always just one more ahead.
 When a Herald reporter called to interview Mir. Penfeld upon his S3rd birthday anniversary a year ago, he arrived before the 6 o'clock whistles blew and found it necessary to wait until Mir. Penfieid came home from work. Just before he reached Sf MT. Penfeld revarnished a dining room suite for the same reporter. When he was S2 he painted his own home at 65a Stanley street, where he lives with his only daughter and her hus- band, Mir. and Mrs. W. Warren W. Marshall.
 Mir. Penheld Is painter. He learned his trade as boy and learned it thoroughly. If there is anything 10 be done fin the way of painting, "The General" as he is af- fectionately called. has done it. He can and has painted scenes 10 adorn parlor walls in this city with as lit- I tie difficulty as he finds in white washing back fence. In his own home on the dining room walls hang two striking painting, one of water melon halved and one-half sliced and the other of a negro boy looking hungrily over garden fence to where luscious green melon bogs | 10 be picked. These paintings he did ! when he was only 7s years old and only his reputation for vcracity con rinces visitors to the home that they are not the work of a professional 1 artist.
 Descendant Of Early Settlers
 Loren Dwight fenfold is a native | son in every sense of the word. His great.grandfather was resident Of what at that time was part of Great swamp and fought under Captain Curtis and Colonel Enos with the Connecticut troops during the Revo- lutiorary war. Loren D. Penfeld, the rreat.grandson and himself a great grandfather today proudly boasts Of being one Of an unbrokcn line of eight ming with the parents of his great grandparents Nathaniel and Lydia ,Barnes) Penheld and ending with Marshall Stevens. son Of Mir. and Mrs. Frederick C. Stevens, grandson Of Mrs. Marshall.
 Loren Penheld went io school in New Britain until he was is years old, when he entered the employ of Rus sell X Erwin, where he became a me- ehanic and eventually foreman. When :1 years Of ago he entered the Y. S. army eniistinE December IT.. 1861, in company A, 18th Connecti- cut infantry, and served as headquar- ier's clerk under General Butler at the siege Of New orleans and under General Banks at the siege Of Tort Hudson. When call was made for volunteers for the historical "Forlorn hope" st the siege Of cPrt Hudson Mr. Ponfield was one of the 1 .0o0 mon ' rho volunteered. Of the 1.ooO. $50 were from tho Connecticut regiment and Mir. Fenfield Is fhs only living { from New Britain. He also Is the only living survivor of com. psny A. NIT. Penfeid also served under General Sheridan in the Shenandoah alley and participated in such out 'tanding battles as Winchester. Fish | ITS hill and Cedar Creek. He went through the entire war without 'cratch. There wasn't Rebcl buI- et made that could hit me and I al- says knew it." he says. After inc var he served one year in the oTfice f the L. s. provost marshal at Hart ord. In 1866 he engaged st his \ rsde Of house painting employing H rom 10 10 16 men and many splen- Id job Of srainiHg siill 10 be seen on ome Of New Britain's finest old resi- snces, is the work Of his hands. So killed did he become that hc did many jobs so delicate that it was ecessary for him to have special il rushcs made to his order in Bel d' ium and some Of these he still uses. e,
 Drafted in Petitions G,a In the army he was a volunteer but politics he was drafted. He wss , Iected somewhat 10 his surp1fss as Id 'wn clerk in 1893. when he was not ten st the caucus. He serted tno I'' rms as town clerk. and one term as -. .' erk of the Berlin probate court. an- 'i' which he was reelected town clerk. .rVing in that capacity for number years. He vas the first New Brit n town clerk to use a typewriter for ,"' unicipai records. .'
 ainays 2 IsrpubIhan - Mr Penfield is q republican and ., IS voted for all the republican uresi- aa .nis since he first cast vote for ncoln. FrsternaIiy he has rec ,-, i which equals for it's remarkable nj