The oldest member of the Morning Forum, Lloyd Lettis, was celebrated on Oct. 15, his 104th birthday. As he walked to the front, using just a cane, the audience serenaded him with the birthday song. Cathie Perga, forum president, honored him with a small cake.
Lettis grew up in Watsonville on an apple orchard owned by his Croatian parents. He and his four siblings worked in the apple orchard every day. While attending UC Berkeley, he met his wife-to-be Myrtle. After 78 years of marriage, Myrtle died in 2021 at the age of 100. He served four years in the Army Air Force. In 1952 he got a job as an engineer at a telecommunications company in San Carlos and they moved to Mountain View, paying $12,750 for the home. “His best investment,” he said.
In 1977, Lettis retired from his job and became a member of Morning Forum, along with Myrtle. He would attend the speaker’s series in the morning, then head down to work at the apple orchard which he had inherited.
Did he have a favorite speaker? “No”, he said, “most have been very good.”
He especially enjoys talks about travel, such as Rick Steves, or talks that had a historical aspect to them.
He loves learning new things and hearing intelligent, interesting and well-known speakers. Another aspect Lettis has enjoyed about Morning Forum is the social connection and making friends.
“I was lucky to have a lot of friends, and we’d meet at Morning Forum, then afterward we’d go to a cafe for lunch,” Lettis said.
His tennis friends – he played until age 102 – are giving him a breakfast party.
Perhaps that old adage, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away,” is true.
For more information about the Morning Forum of Los Altos lecture series, visit morningforum.org.
