Christmas Eve has always been extra special for Johnstown resident Lee Riffe, whose birthday is that day.

But this year Christmas Eve will be a particular milestone for the Johnstown resident, who was born in 1911.

Riffe will celebrate his 100th birthday about a week early, with an open house at Johnstown Independent Baptist Church from 2 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 18.

His granddaughter, Sherry Walker, reflected on the life of an extraordinary man, with an extraordinary birthday.

She said her grandfather was born and grew up on a homestead outside Spencer, W.Va., with three siblings, two of whom hope to become centenarians themselves.

“If you ask him about life in his early years, he could go on for hours,” Walker said. “He remembers his dad’s orchard, growing Alberta peaches and many varieties of apples.”

She said he recalls picking buckets of blackberries at a time, knowing his mother would transform them into blackberry preserves to be spread over hot, steaming biscuits. The family grew everything they ate, she said, which meant tending a garden during the summer months with produce stored in the root cellar for the cold winter. They rarely went to the store; the nearest one was a mile’s walk, and offered only the basics.

Walker said her grandfather married Dorothy Harris, also of the Spencer area, in 1936 and they moved to Ohio. He found work on a farm near Granville milking cows.

“At one point, he would milk cows in the early morning, go to work on the building of the post office in Granville all day, and milk the cows again at days’ end,” Walker said. “At night, he would often take his dogs and meet others for a fox hunt.”

Riffe worked on several farms in the area, shearing sheep and tending to land owned by others, before buying his own in 1940. He raised chickens, sheep, cattle, and pigs. At times, there were turkeys and ducks, but there was always a large garden and a milk cow.

“Grandpa taught me to milk a cow, warning me to always stay out from behind the cow to avoid getting kicked,” Walker said. “Hunched over on a short, stubby stool, he showed me how to wash the udder and how to pull on it at an angle to extract the milk but not hurt the cow. He would carry the milk pail to the house and in a day or two, grandma and I would make butter. He liked to drink the buttermilk.”

As Riffe’s life progressed, Walker said, her grandfather cut timber with his brother, living away from his wife in a small trailer in the woods where he was working. He and his brother hunted rabbit and squirrel for food and ate roasted potatoes during the times when the hunting wasn’t so good.

When the timbering finished, he still had his farm and garden.

“I remember grandpa’s border collies. He had several through the years,” said Riffe’s grandson, Terry. “With a whistle he would send Rex (one of the dogs) across the road, across the creek and back into the woods to gather the cattle for the evening.”

Terry said the dog would disappear, but shortly, the cattle would arrive, making a slow, forced, journey toward the barn.

“Rex would be behind them, nipping at their heels should they start to stop to graze. Grandpa would stand in the barnyard and watch, waiting to open the gate when the cows and Rex arrived.”

Walker said Riffe and his wife owned the Shamrock restaurant on Main Street in Johnstown from 1961-67, when he has said he remembers his wife making a dozen or more pies every day for customers. While the Riffes owned the Shamrock, Walker said Lee Riffe starting working as a butcher at Perfect’s Johnstown Freeze Lock.

“He continued to work there after he and Dorothy decided to close the restaurant,” she said, but never one to sit still, Riffe became the Licking County dog warden when he was 59 years old, and held the position until he retired — again.

“He wasn’t finished even at the age of 70,” Walker said. Riffe still farmed and later became the Licking County bee inspector, a position he held for five years.

Afterwards, he continued farming and raising a garden into his early 90s.

“Growing up on the farm, I remember baling hay with grandma and grandpa,” said Riffe’s granddaughter, Cindy. “Grandma would be driving the tractor. I would be on the wagon with grandpa where he waited for the bale to emerge from the noisy bailer and he would pull it with a hay hook back to the wagon.”

She said she would always sit on the top bale and rise with the stack as it grew.

“Grandpa always sang hymns, and I sometimes sang along, sometimes listened,” said Cindy. “His favorite is ‘The Old Rugged Cross’.”

Walker said Riffe’s son and daughter-in-law continue to farm his land along with their own, keeping Riffe informed of crop prices, cattle prices and how well the crops are growing.

“While he no longer hoes the garden, he hands out gardening advice to his three grandchildren,” she said.

Walker said Riffe and his family request no gifts for her grandfather’s birthday.

“At 100 years, he has what he needs,” she said, “but he would appreciate seeing friends and neighbors.”