Driver’s license at 101 made Whidbey Island man a celebrity

Published 9:45 pm Saturday, March 8, 2008

It happened a decade ago. Alden B. Couch didn’t want to hang out at the South Whidbey-Bayview Senior Center in Langley.

Only 90, he figured the only people hanging out there were old folks.

Eventually, he decided to visit, and found fun and friends there, where he was somewhat of a celebrity.

His national fame came late in his life, after Couch’s driver’s license was renewed last year when he was 101. A story in The Herald spread nationwide.

He was the subject of a Jay Leno monologue and featured on KING-TV’s “Evening Magazine.”

“He was invited to attend ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’ and he did radio interviews all over the country, some very funny ones,” said his granddaughter, Michele Lin. “He enjoyed the fame and cracked jokes with the interviewers.”

She said there are probably a million more stories about her grandfather and probably a million that she doesn’t even know. He gave up driving about six months ago.

“He was a wonderful, funny, tell it like it is, walk into a restaurant and don’t wait to be seated, just sit where you want to kind of guy,” Lin said. “He lived every moment of his almost 102 years to the fullest.”

Couch died Feb. 11 at his home on Whidbey Island.

He is survived by his son, William Couch of Clinton; his grandsons, Brian Couch of Lake Stevens, Coast Guard Lt. Eric VanVelzen of San Francisco, Calif., and Dirk VanVelzen of Florence, Ariz.; his granddaughter, Michele Lin of Darrington; and two great-grandchildren.

His wife, Elizabeth Couch, and his daughter, Aldeen VanVelzen, preceded him in death.

He was born on April 2, 1906, in Bismarck, N.D. He was a 1929 graduate of Washington State College, which later became Washington State University. He later became a lineman for Puget Power.

At Washington State College, Couch joined the Omega Phi fraternity in 1925.

“He saved up enough money nailing apple boxes together to pay for one year of college,” alumnus Jeff Anderson said. “He was able to make it four years as the guys in the house helped to get him a job mopping floors in one of the buildings and later the job as house manager in the chapter.”

Omega Phi became Alpha Kappa Chapter, the 34th chapter of Phi Kappa Tau in 1927. Couch was the fraternity’s last surviving Founding Father.

For a fraternity celebration in 2003, Anderson visited Couch at his home several times, seeking his help in compiling a history book.

“Al was able to provide about half the contents as he had held onto most of his items from his undergrad days,” Anderson said. “He had the original petition to the national, photos, programs and dance cards from the installation in 1927.”

Don’t waste your time or your life, Couch was known to say. Don’t live beyond your means and stay fit with hard work.

“He always had the most beautiful yard and landscaping and he always did it himself,” his granddaughter said. “He trimmed his own circular shrubs and planted ornamental trees, and always had to fight with the deer about eating his rose bushes.”

And every day, Lin said, he drank a rum and Coke with two fingers of rum: the width of his index finger and his pinkie.