in local news....
Wash. Man, 101, Passes Driver's Test


LANGLEY, Wash. - Alden Couch just celebrated his 101st birthday. And he passed his Washington state driver's test with flying colors, if you listen to him. "I haven't parallel parked for 10 years and I sailed through it like nothing," he said.

A resident of the Whidbey Island town of Langley, Couch planned to take a birthday drive - by himself - down to the local senior center, where his friends had a party planned for him. Then he planned to drive home - by himself again.

The state's decision to give his father a driver's test took a lot of pressure off his 64-year-old son, Bill Couch, of Clinton. The son said he sometimes follows his father in his car to make sure his dad is driving safely.

"I feel a lot better about that," Bill Couch said.

Alden Couch's new license that he received in the mail a little more than a week ago expires in 2012.

During his recent driver's test, he admitted he wasn't bothering to turn on his turn-signal blinker because Whidbey Island is such a rural place. But then he noticed the omission was costing him points with the state examiner.

"Every time I didn't do it, she would write it down," Couch said. "So I got smart and started signaling."

During his lifetime, Couch has owned 10 to 15 cars.

He's a former lineman for Puget Power who is 95 years older than the Impala he now owns, which happens to be his all-time favorite car.

"It isn't the cheapest one in the whole deal, but it's a good one," he said.

Couch used to be partial to Oldsmobiles until he outlived the make, which was discontinued in 2004. The first car Couch drove was an oldie but goodie, Ford's Model T. It was his parents' car.

Couch conceded he makes some limits for his age now by limiting his driving to south Whidbey Island, going only as far as Oak Harbor. He doesn't like driving in too much traffic.

But he drives around Langley all the time, filling up at the gas station on the highway, heading to the grocery store or dropping by the senior center for lunch and a game of Dominos or bridge. He figures he drives about 7,500 miles per year.

Couch was born in Bismarck, N.D. He moved to Zillah in the Yakima Valley when he was 6. He went to Washington State University before having a career at Puget Power in the Seattle and Bellingham areas.

At 90, he moved to Langley at age 90 to be near his son, who owns Donna's truck stop in Arlington. He has grandchildren and great-grandchildren who live in Snohomish County.

"He's pretty sharp," his son said.

Hooray for him, too bad about EVERYBODY else on the road.