Pete Brock, a Navy veteran of World War II and a longtime resident of Dade City, Florida, celebrated his 100th birthday on a Saturday at the First United Methodist Church on the city’s historic Church Avenue. The Christian Life Center was filled with nearly 200 people who came to honor Brock’s milestone birthday.
Brock was born in 1926 in Columbia, South Carolina, and has lived to see many significant events in history, including the launch of the first liquid-fuel rocket by Robert Goddard and the outbreak of citrus greening in Florida. He recalled his fellow members of the Dade City Rotary Club taking the new polio vaccine in 1957. Brock also remembered the ‘Golden Era’ when the local economy revolved around growing, harvesting, shipping, and processing fruit. He worked in public relations and marketing for 46 years with a Dade City business that became the largest citrus processing plant in the world.
During his career, Brock saw the local economy thrive, with five hundred truckloads of fruit arriving every day at the processing plant. He also witnessed the impact of citrus greening, which decimated citrus production in Florida over the next 25 years. Brock is married to his wife for 57 years, and they have three children, eight grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.
Brock expressed gratitude to those who attended his celebration, saying, “I thank you all for coming here.” His life is a testament to his resilience and dedication to his community.
Originally reported by Hernando Sun
Sources: Hernando Sun
