Max Gurney still has the charm. The same bright blue eyes. And the same sense of humor he says he learned from his late wife Kira.
ABC 10News reporter Olivia Gonzalez-Britt first met Gurney in December after friends and strangers helped raise thousands of dollars for the 104-year-old veteran to stay in his home and expand his health care.
This growing support has given Gurney more energy to keep living. He turns 105 years old on June 10.
"For practical purposes, I will go back to my adolescence!," Max Gurney said through a grin.
And honestly, adolescence may not be that far off.
Because at nearly 105 years old, Gurney is still packing his calendar with more travel, dinners, reunions and adventures than most people decades younger.
And he’s doing it alongside friends like Tim McCully.
"Once people have met Max and he pulls them in, they become members of a very elite global society called the 'Friends of Max,' from which there is no escape," McCully said.
McCully has been one of those friends for more than 20 years, traveling alongside Gurney on many international adventures he’s been invited to as a World War II veteran.
“Max has broadened my world," McCully said.
And this year’s trip feels especially meaningful.
Gurney is headed to a two week long trip to celebrate his birthday at the Monaco Yacht Club, attend an event as one of the 12 knights of the Burgundy Wine Society of France and reunite with friends from around the world.
The fun doesn’t end there. He’s also expected to have a private audience with Pope Leo himself, making it his third contact with the pope in his lifetime.
So what’s the secret to keeping up with a schedule like this at almost 105 years old?
“I cannot tell you the secret," Gurney says. "I think it’s a combination of God, mother, events, circumstances, destiny, whatever you call it... I've been very lucky.“
But his friends think they know the real answer.
"The secret is that he always has something to look forward to," Mccully said. "He always is thinking of the next thing. This year its this trip, he’s already thinking about attending the Panem reunion in October."
That may be the real lesson Gurney leaves behind everywhere he goes.
Not just to grow older, but to stay curious, keep planning and say yes to what’s next.
