“There’s no place like here anywhere on God’s earth that is any more beautiful,” McFarland said.
Born in 1893, on his family’s farm near the banks of the Cumberland River, Jake has lived most of his 95 years in the county.
Until just a few years ago, Jake, like his father, farmed and raised cattle.
“There were some years we were so poor as Job’s turkeys but we always had plenty of goods to eat,” Jake said.
He says he misses farming and being able to drive his tractor, but the doctors told him “to slow down and take it easy,” after some cancer surgery.
However, “taking it easy” doesn’t mean “doing nothing,” to Jake.
“My life is not as busy and I can’t get out to visit much, but I like to do a few things each day,” Jake said. So he spends his days chopping wood, splitting kindling, cutting newspapers into strips of paper that he bands together for fighter starters, sharpening farm tools, making ropes and chatting with friends who stop by to visit him.
Visitors are important to Jake and people frequently stop by to swap yesterday’s stories, drop off string used to make the ropes, or make another attempt to beat Jake in a game of checkers.
“He plays a mean game of checkers and I don’t know of too many people who can beat him,” said Mary Joann Haynes, Jake’s granddaughter.
Probably, the reason he wins, “usually wins big,” says Mary Joann, is because Jake plays checkers the way he lives. With Jake, life is taken each day, one at time quietly, thoughtfully and at the end of the day thankfully.
“Today is the best day,” Jake said.
