This month’s resident spotlight at Heritage Health is John Gima. After moving from Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis, the 90 year old gentleman describes Heritage Health as a “great place.” John has been at Heritage Health for about two months now.

John is originally from Benld, but has ventured to many places around the states. As he was born and raised in Benld, his father was a coal-miner. According to John, he was a driller and he enjoyed what he did. “He was faithful with his work,” John explained.

His childhood was filled with yard games and outdoor activities as he was one of five children. Unfortunately, John is the only child left as he explained that his siblings “went to glory already.”

Growing up then is nothing like growing up now, John noted. He went to school in Benld and graduated from Benld High School in 1939. His graduating class was a large class for that time, he explained, as there were 65 kids that received their diplomas. Back then there were two schools and we were big rivals, John explained.

In high school, John was not the athlete. That was not his cup of tea. However, he happily brags that he had the highest GPA in his class compared to the rest of the “boys.” He did the best he could in all of the subjects, but no particular subject was his favorite. Other than hitting the books, John enjoyed relaxing and playing the guitar. It was in high school where he taught himself how to play and he found a spot in the high school band.

Ever since high school, John has been playing guitars and keeping his old ones. He has quite a collection. “I have two big buildings full of guitars in Litchfield,” John noted, “It is a museum. Gima Guitar Muesum is the name. It is on main street by the hospital.” His guitar was the first thing you could spot in his hand wherever he traveled to. He never went professional and he only played it for enjoyment. “I am just an amateur.”

He got his first guitar from his brother. His brother bought it from a pawn shop for a Christmas present for John when they were living in Detroit. “I got started on a Hawaiian guitar,” John noted, “Then I started to make special types of guitars for me to play more chords.” John has been featured in the Vintage magazine playing his guitar on two separate occasions.

After high school, John went on to secondary education and attended Bradley University. “I was at Bradley when the Japanese struck Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941,” John explained, “I was there and I heard Roosevelt declare war on Japan. I listed to it on the radio.” At that time, John was at a dance at his school. He invited two girls from Springfield up.

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They went to bowl after and then came back to the Bradley house. It was then that someone turned the radio on and John heard on the radio Roosevelt’s exact words. According to John, Roosevelt said: “This day should go down in infamy and today we declare war on Japan!”

“The world then became entangled with World War II,” John noted. Everything changed at that time, according to John. It was after that year John transferred to University of Detroit. It was there where he graduated in 1944 with a bachelor science degree in chemistry. After he graduated, he got a job offer in Detroit that he turned down. “I passed up a lot of job opportunities,” John explained.

He moved one place to the other before he got drafted in the Army. He ended up in Las Alamos, New Mexico after they found out he had a degree in chemistry. John got to work at the atomic bomb place. “I could of stayed there as a civilian,” John explained, “They were going to give me a job, but things were slowing down after they dropped a bomb on Japan.” According to John, that was the only goal: to develop a bomb and drop it on Japan.

John went on to say the United States had a third bomb, but decided to not drop it. “They were going to drop it on an island in the Pacific,” John explained. They went on to do some research and decided to develop the hydrogen bomb.

Not many people respect a bachelor degree in chemistry, according to John. He explained that he needed a master’s degree to do any research. That was the prime reason he turned down multiple job offerings. “I just wasn’t interested in what they were offering,” John explained, “I worked in a few places in Nevada, Colorado, and Detroit.”

In Colorado, John worked on the Western Slopes which was an experimental she plant. At the plants, they covert shale to oil. “We got the shale out and ground it up. Then, we refined it and cooked it so it was distilled. Then, it was vapor and dropped as oil.” According to John, they can go mine shale if they ever need oil because it is very rich over there.

Over the 90 years, John never got married or settled down. He did have plenty of dates and good times though. “I have had plenty of girlfriends all around the country,” John explained, “I never got serious, I just dabbled with them.”

Now, John is still single with his eyes open at Heritage Health. “It’s pretty good here,” John closed, “There are restrictions when I can leave though. The food is really good, but they give me too much.” John is loving life and spends most of his time in front of television or gazing out the window.

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