Meet Indiana's oldest state employee - Bob Vollmer - Professional Surveyor

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By Kevin Rader, WTHR political reporter

CORYDON, Ind. - Bob Vollmer has so many things he wants to do every day. The only difference between Bob and the rest of us is that he actually does them and has done them for going on 99 years. 

Vollmer has just about seen it all, but Indiana's oldest state employee sees it from a different perspective.

He has surveyed nearly every inch of O'Bannon Woods State Parkin his job as surveyor with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.

"This is totally a one-man operation," he says as he sets up his equipment in the park.

It used to be a two- or three-man operation all across the state, but technology has changed quite a bit over the span of his 55 years with the department.  He does put out a few reminders to keep his mind sharp like the "dummy, get the battery" note on the dashboard.

"It would be awful to get all the way out here and find out you did not have the battery," he explains.

"Starting robotic connection," an electronic voice says to him emanating from his equipment.

The job requires staying up to date with the latest technology, which is no small feat.

"You just turned 98. Is that right?" I ask him while he works.

"I'm getting close to 99," Vollmer corrects me.  He says he will turn 99 in four months.

That makes him the oldest state employee in Indiana and most likely the oldest state employee in the United States, which has not gone entirely unnoticed.

"One of my great grandsons asked his mother the other day if I knew Adam and Eve. I couldn't believe it. I know I am old, but I didn't know Adam and Eve," he states emphatically.

But he does know Morse code and tells me FDR was the first president he ever voted for.

"You remember FDR?" I ask. 

"You betcha I do.  He is the guy who saved our ass," he remembers.

"You've got to remember the Depression. You don't want a depression.  Anything but that, 'cause you got to feed your kids. If you don't have money to buy it, you are going to steal it. It is just that simple," Vollmer says. But he also shared a story about how his father was shot in the shoulder while trying to prevent a robbery at the family run warehouse during the Depression.

"How long are you going to keep working?" I wonder aloud. "At 98 you should have retired 40 years ago."

"I know," Vollmer says.  "I really don't know [if I'll retire.] Maybe you don't want to quit working. Nobody should quit. Just do something," he answers.

"Is that the secret to long life, if there is one?" I ask.

"When you quit working, you start what they call rocking. I don't like the term, but that is what you do," Vollmer says.

The man who was born when Woodrow Wilson was president, graduated from Purdue and started working at the DNR when JFK was inaugurated still has his draft card from World War II.

"October 16th, 1940.  It says, 'carry it with you at all times' and I still got it. I stopped carrying it because it is about worn out but I don't think they are going to call me anymore," he shares.

That's because he is still needed here.

"Now see that instrument is still pointing at me. It will follow me no matter where I go," he shares his amazement at the latest technology that he is able to conquer. The gadgets that should intimidate him, only serve to invigorate him.

Vollmer says the only thing that really burns him up these days is when kids say they have nothing to do.  He says that really blows his mind.

Vollmer  himself is not ready to rock. He's still on a roll.