Sunapee
In the 105 years since, the Sunapee resident has lived through two world wars, endless technological and medical advances, and the loss of many beloved friends and relatives. The amount of change he’s seen is hard to fathom.
“It would be unbelievable to people,” Molloy said with a laugh.
When asked about the biggest shift he’s witnessed, Molloy doesn’t wax poetic. Instead, he focuses on something practical: car prices.
“I went with my brother to buy a new car and it was $600. He paid cash. It’s unbelievable to think.”
Sitting in the home on the shore of Lake Sunapee that he shares with his daughter-in-law Jean Molloy, 75, he is decidedly practical and pragmatic about a life that has spanned more than a century.
Molloy was the sixth of seven brothers born in St. Shott’s, Newfoundland. He remembers working with his mother to farm potatoes when he was just four years old.
Despite the harsh realities of life in what was then a rural Bristish dominion, Molloy’s mother regularly took in orphans. Molloy recalls one baby girl in a crib that was hanging from the rafters of the house, hoisted up near the ceiling so that the child could sleep where the heat rose.
“We had that kid in a crib hanging from the beams so she wouldn’t get cold,” Molloy said.
When Molloy was in his early 20s he followed his brothers to the Boston area. He started working at Bethlehem Steel in East Boston, helping to build and repair ships. His wage was just $2 an hour, but Molloy made up for that by putting in as many hours as he could.
“I’d work right around the clock if they wanted me,” he said.
Oftentimes, they did, particularly as work increased throughout World War II.
During that time Molloy became an American citizen, but he said his employer kept him from serving in the war by saying he was critical to the ship-building efforts at home.
“I was one of only two people working there who didn’t have to go into the service,” he said.
When Molloy was 28 he attended a dance for other immigrants from Newfoundland and met Catherine, who would become his wife. The two married in 1938 and were together until Catherine died at age 67. Together they had one son, John.
Molloy kept himself busy working to support his family. For 35 years, he barely missed a day at Bethlehem Steel.
However, as Molloy aged, John urged him to retire, pointing out the many men who waited until 65 to retire only to die shortly after their last day at work.
“Who knew?” Jean said with a laugh.
Molloy took his son’s advice and retired from Bethlehem Steel in his early ‘60s.
He began helping John launch a chain of small convenience stores and gas stations.
When John’s family moved to Sunapee from Massachusetts in the 1980s, Molloy came too, leaving his Somerville, Mass., home behind to help John open shops and gas stations in New Hampshire, including one in White River Junction.
“We would go all over looking for locations,” Molloy said.
Sadly, John died 23 years go from cancer. He was only 53. Molloy continued to live with John’s widow, Jean Molloy, and took on the role of taxi service for his four grandchildren.
“I had to drive them every day,” he said. “I always kept busy… just kept going right along.”
Although Molloy was in his 70s by that time, he took on home improvement projects, even building an addition to the house. He has slowed considerably in the years since, but Molloy has never stopped contributing. In fact, until last winter, when he was 104, he could be seen shoveling off the deck.
“He’s very disciplined,” Jean Molloy said.
Molloy said that his biggest piece of advice after 105 years of experience is simple: “Most importantly, do what ever you’re doing, and do it well,” he said. “Don’t half do it.”
He often tells his great-grandchildren, who range in age from preschool to college, to finish what they’ve started.
Molloy is in generally good health for a man his age, though his hearing and eyesight are fading.
He still makes his own sandwiches, always dresses properly before leaving his room and until recently maintained a weekly lunch date with a friend.
“I don’t have an ache or a pain,” he said.
Still, the lifelong Catholic said that 100 years would have been plenty long to live.
“I’m ready to go any time they want me,” he said.
In the meantime, Molloy will be at home with Jean, listening to the occasional television show, socializing with his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and — like the rest of us — looking forward to spring so he can return to walking.
“As soon as the snow does out, I’ll be out on the deck again,” he said, looking wistfully out the window.
Correction
Sunapee resident Rupert Molloy grew up in the rural British dom inion of Newfoundland, which became a province of Canada in 1949. An earlier version of this story misspelled his last name and incorrectly described the political status of Newfoundland when he was a boy.