This past April, Robert “RO” Johnson celebrated his 100th birthday at Rittenhouse Village at Portage. In his time at Rittenhouse, the staff, who have become like family to Johnson, discovered his love of casinos. This is why, after his birthday party, Rittenhouse took him there to celebrate. Ironically, Johnson came home that day $100 up on his 100th birthday.
“I like all the lights and the dinging and everything at the casino,” said Johnson. “It is a fun place to go.”
Johnson’s story begins 100 years ago when he was born in Rensselaer, Indiana on April 23, 1923. For years the family had celebrated his birthday on April 24 because his aunts put him in a warming oven until the 24th.
He later moved to East Gary, which is now Lake Station.
During his childhood, Johnson lived in a tent with his parents, all of his siblings, and his dog Jip. While in high school during World War II, Johnson got his job at U.S. Steel as an armature winder.
Johnson then met his wife, Betty, shortly after the war. She would help Johnson in his role as a volunteer fireman and ambulance driver for 59 years. They also built a house together where Johnson grew up, and that would be their home until they made a new home at Rittenhouse.
“It was a volunteer service, and I drove an ambulance for a gentleman named Thomas R. Brady with Brady’s Funeral Parlor,” said Johnson. “We had two telephones in our house, one that everyone could pick and one that my wife used to dispatch me.”
In addition to fighting fires, Johnson has delivered babies using the skills he learned while training under a doctor.
“In the early 1960s, I went down to Purdue University in Indianapolis to train with a doctor for four days,” said Johnson. “I learned hands-on with the doctor, and that was all the training I received.”
Those skills helped Johnson deliver a baby at the fire station. Johnson’s expertise would prove so useful that all of the other firefighters went to Johnson in times of need.
Johnson has also had run-ins with some of the area's historic figures throughout his life, including meeting Gangster John Dillinger when Dillinger broke out of the Crown Point jail. The two ran into each other while Johnson was walking the cows at the Henry S. Evans cabin in New Chicago. Dillinger got out of his stolen car and bought Johnson’s sack lunch for a dollar.
The Rittenhouse Village at Portage has been very good to Johnson for his eight years in the community. It is a safe place where Johnson has made friends, and he enjoys the fabulous staff for all that they do for him.
“They have a very dedicated team,” said Johnson.
Rittenhouse Village at Portage is always eager to schedule a time for you or your loved one to take a tour of the complex. For more information, please visit rittenhousevillages.com/rittenhouse-village-at-portage.