Jim Kressler recently celebrated his 95th birthday. He was born March 17, 1918. As a boy, he grew up on a farm and worked in Bucks County.

In the 1930s he moved to the outskirts of Jim Thorpe, on top of Kattner's mountain. He married his brother's sister-in-law. It was amazing how two brothers fell in love and married two sisters.Jim and Lucy Kressler lived at Behren's Dairy, where he worked. Jim was instrumental in helping transform the swamp into a spring fed lake known as Bear Creek Lakes.Other jobs he had were helping build the Pennsylvania Turnpike; he was a skilled equipment operator building Beltzville Dam; and a carpenter/millwright, setting up heavy equipment in factories.He remembers the Great Depression, the big snow storm in the 1940s, and when a stamp was only three cents.Jim was a member of Christ United Church of Christ for over 55 years. He resides by two of his daughters in Jim Thorpe for over 62 years.Jim bakes and cooks, drives to the market and Lehighton. He plants a garden and runs circles around most 70-year-old men.He has five daughters, nine grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.