For 80 years, Kenneth Barhite began each day with a set of pushups.
It was a part of his morning routine he learned at basic training in 1942. As the years passed, the number of pushups declined from 100 to 50 and then to 30, as his doctor suggested he slow down. Still, the 100-year-old World War II veteran did more than pushups. He walked two miles every day, one in the morning and one at night.
“His regular physician would say, ‘I don’t know why you come in here to see me. There’s really nothing wrong with you,'” said Lydia Tafoya, Barhite’s daughter. “I can’t do two pushups to save my life and my 100-year-old father would get up and do it every morning.”
Barhite died on Tuesday, 15 days after being assaulted on his nightly walk and exactly two months shy of his 101st birthday. Tafoya said he greeted a man he did not know who was lying on a bench. The man yelled at the veteran, who continued walking.
“He told me he heard the guy running behind (him), put his cane out and was basically football tackled,” she said. “The man kicked him before he ran off.”
Tafoya believes her father’s goal was to outlive his older brother, Vic, who died in 2017, one week before his 101st birthday. But that dream was taken away from him, she said.
“It’s just not fair,” Tafoya said.
Kenneth Barhite sits in the middle of his big family.
Barhite suffered multiple fractures in the assault, but had been progressing in a rehabilitation facility, undergoing physical therapy, until his condition worsened in early November.
Barhite was born on Jan. 9, 1921 in Alden, Iowa, the middle of five children. Within the Iowa Falls and Alden communities, Barhite, an “Iowa farm boy,” was involved at his local church and played football and basketball at Alden High School. There he met his high school sweetheart and wife of 60 years, Lovella.
“Our mother was a grade ahead of him and he would tell me all the time that the first time he saw her in class, he told his buddy he was going to marry her,” Tafoya said.
Shortly after his community college graduation, in 1942, he married Lovella. The couple’s first child, Denny, was born the same year. Four months later, Barhite was on his way to war.
“My brother was four months old when (dad) went to the war and four years old when (dad) came back,” Tafoya said.
Barhite enlisted in the U.S. Army and served in the well-known Americal Division. He was promoted to sergeant following his role in the Pacific Theater, including combat duty in the Philippines, Tafoya said.
Following his military service, Barhite returned to his wife, son and family in Iowa Falls. In 1957, the Barhites visited friends in Colorado and fell in love with the Centennial State. Barhite worked at Dow Chemical for 16 years, Tafoya said, retiring early to help with Lovella’s home daycare service until 1978, when they returned to central Iowa.
Back home, Barhite became the Alden Cemetery’s caretaker. He and Lovella began their volunteering, donating to World War II veterans and Christian organizations, on projects across the United States.
“They’d be down south in the winter and then they’d work their way up through the country with projects,” Tafoya said. “They did that for years until dad needed hip replacement surgery, which led them to returning to Colorado in 1992.”
The Barhite’s continued volunteering at Meals on Wheels, the Carry-out Caravan and the Hour Center, their daughter said. After Lovella’s death in 2002, he continued his volunteer efforts with Tafoya at his side .
“I kind of picked up where my mom left off and we did grocery deliveries to homebound seniors, which is kind of comical, because these people he helped deliver groceries to were 20 years younger than him” said Tafoya. “We only stopped for safety reasons (at the onset of the pandemic) for him because of his age.”
Barhite volunteered at Cultivate, a seniors support organization, for 23 years and impacted each person he met, said Cultivate’s Executive Director Chrysti Britt.
Kenneth Barhite, who died at 100 after an assault, spends some floor time with one of his great grandchildren.
“Mr. Barhite embodied the value of service above self in our community for over 20 years, dedicating his time, alongside other members of his family, to fight food insecurity,” Britt wrote in a statement to The Denver Gazette. “Mr. Barhite is remembered by the Cultivate staff, volunteers and clients for his kindness and how he made every client feel like they were the most important delivery of the day.
“Our entire community is devastated at the loss of such an active, giving man who always had a smile on his face.”
Barhite eventually moved into the Longmont Regent retirement community where he became a voice of positivity as he’d pass out chocolate to other residents and participate in many activities, such as bean bag baseball.
“He said hi and gave hugs to everybody,” Tafoya said. “He really touched a lot of lives there.”
“The manager Adam checked in to see how dad was doing, and he told me, ‘We set up our chairs for our activities and we still set up Ken’s chair and no one’s allowed to sit there,'” Tafoya said.
Barhite suffered fractures to the right hip, pelvis, lower back and spine in the assault, his daughter said. At first, he was recovering well and even participated in physical therapy, but on Nov. 6, things took a turn for the worse.
“I have a handicapped daughter whose wheelchair bound from cerebral palsy and while he was wheeling himself to his room on Friday, he was teasing her if they wanted to race,” Tafoya said. “Then on Saturday morning the rehab facility called and told us he was unresponsive and he was headed to the ER. It just went down from there.”
The next day, Barhite was moved into a hospice center and was unresponsive to everyone, except Tafoya.
“I would tell him, ‘Dad it’s Lydi’ and he would still react to my voice … ,” she said.
By Monday, Barhite stopped responding. Tafoya opted to stay overnight and around 2:30 a.m., “I placed my hand in his hand and he gripped it really hard, one last time,” Tafoya said while crying. “I told him I loved him and that it’s okay to be with my mom and I told him goodbye and he took his last breath.”
Barhite is survived by Tafoya, his daughter Jill, 11 grandchildren, 26 great-grandchildren and a great-great-granddaughter. He is proceeded by his wife and son.
Before Lovella died in 2002, Tafoya promised her mother that she’d watch over her father. And although she was devastated by the untimely passing of her father, she fulfilled her promise.
“My job is complete,” she said. “He’s back with her.”
Barhite’s assailant was still at-large as of Friday. Police have said the suspect is between 40 and 50 years old and was last seen wearing black pants with blue squares. (Anyone with information regarding the incident is urged to contact the Longmont Police Department at 303-774-4392 and reference case number 21-8933).
Tafoya said Barhite held no ill will against his assailant and prayed they got help rather than prosecuted.
“He said (the man) can’t be in his right mind. He must have mental health issues or on drugs or something,” Tafoya said. “He said you can’t really prosecute someone like that and they need to get help. He said you just gotta move on and forgive and forget, and pray they get help. That’s so my dad.”
Although Barhite prayed for his assailant to get help up until his death, Tafoya wants the person to be held accountable so the residents at the Regent can live without fear.
“They’re afraid to go outside on their walks,” Tafoya said.
“I see dad’s point and I want to follow in his footsteps in that aspect in forgive and forget,” she said.
But at the same time, Tafoya feels her dad should still be alive and should’ve achieved his goal of turning 101 and should still be doing pushups every morning and going on walks.
“Dad could’ve made that 101st birthday and at this point, he probably could’ve made it to 102, and that man took that away,” Tafoya said.
This content was originally published here.