Greenwood resident Hanfred Magby walks inside the Greenwood Park Mall on Wednesday. Magby has been walking in the mall since 1995, and has made a number of friends through it. Those friends and his family recently helped him celebrate his 99th birthday with a party on July 20.
RYAN TRARES | DAILY JOURNAL
Theirs is a community born out of friendship, familiarity and fitness.
On mornings throughout the week, residents from all over Greenwood and southside Indianapolis, and sometimes beyond, meet at the Greenwood Park Mall to walk. They arrive before the stores open, having the corridors to themselves. They catch up on their families, grandkids, local news, or whatever else comes up.
For Hanfred Magby, this is home.
So when it came to the group’s attention that the 99-year-old Greenwood resident would no longer be able to drive himself to the mall for the daily get-togethers, the others sprang into action.
“I’ve always talked with him here, and he always seemed like such a nice guy. At his age, we all like to see him here,” said Marty Neumann, a southside Indianapolis resident and mall walker. “He’s like a brother to me.”
Magby had remained a core part of the group. Different members of the mall walking group take turns picking him up each morning.
But their connection extends beyond just mornings at the mall. On July 20, they gathered for a surprise party for their friend to celebrate his 99th birthday.
Having people in his life who would do so much for him has been a blessing, Magby said
“I thought, man alive, this is my second home. All of these people love me,” he said.
The morning walks start the same way for Magby. He enters the mall at 10 a.m., meeting with his friends outside the door to be let in by security. Then he moves methodically down one wing, starting down another, before turning around and completing a loop to where he started.
Magby walks by himself but is hardly ever alone. He’s constantly chatting with those who pass by, and often people will walk alongside him for a short time while he tells a story.
“I just like people. I’ll look at somebody and say, if they frown or look away, I’ll let them have their will. But if they don’t, then I’ll speak to them,” he said.
Nearly everyone who passes by stops to say hello, ask how he’s doing, to wish him a happy belated birthday. They call him pawpaw or grandpa or Romeo — a nod to the fact that he’s a charmer with the ladies.
“He’s a chick magnet. Women are always making over him,” said Anna Lanker, who walks at the mall with her sister-in-law, Diana Lanker.
Part of what draws people to him is his storytelling. Magby has lived a fascinating life in his 99 years. He was born in Mountain Top, Arkansas, the baby of 14 siblings.
After leaving home, he roamed around the country, eventually visiting 20 different states. During a trip to Indiana, he stopped at a cafe in Anderson for some food. He sat down and looked up; a beautiful woman, one of the waitresses, was coming down the aisle.
“I looked at that and said, ‘I want that.’ On first sight, I knew I wanted that,” he said.
Magby asked the waitress out, she agreed and they went for a walk. When he tried to kiss her on the Eighth Street Bridge in Anderson, there was a carnival going on underneath the bridge and Magby thought it was a romantic spot for the kiss, he said.
She slapped him.
They continued their walk, eventually making their way to the carnival and onto the Ferris wheel. Magby convinced the Ferris wheel operator to stop the ride when they were at the top.
“She was hanging on for dear life, and I kissed her then,” he said. “That started my life.”
They ended up being married for 70 years, having four children along the way.
Magby has been walking at the mall since 1995 when he and his wife Delores moved to Greenwood from Martinsville. They were regulars at the mall for years.
After Delores died three years ago, Magby continued to drive himself to meet his friends.
“I’ve got to exercise my legs. I’m 99 years old, and I want to keep them going,” he said.
So it was devastating earlier this year when Magby was no longer able to drive himself to the mall. Right away, his fellow walkers noticed something was wrong.
“It concerned us all when he didn’t show up one day,” Neumann said.
Immediately, people organized a schedule to pick up and drop Magby off in the morning. Most days, Neumann and his wife bring him, though others take turns as well.
“He told us, ‘This is half my life.’ And it is. It’s a social thing. When it happened, and he said he couldn’t drive anymore, we got together and tried to figure out how to get him a ride,” said Tom Rodgers, one of Magby’s friends and fellow walkers.
So Magby was back where he belonged. But those close to him wanted to do something more, particularly with his birthday approaching on July 17.
Anna and Diana Lanker worked with many of the other walkers to plan a surprise party for him. Numan bought a cake, and others provided balloons, cards and decorations.
“I was scared if we didn’t do something for Hanfred this year, we don’t know what tomorrow brings. When I first found out, his birthdate stood out to me,” Diana Lanker said.
On July 20, the walkers, as well as his children, met at Northwest Park for a birthday party for Magby. The plan had been to do a surprise for him inside the mall the day after his birthday, July 17. But that changed after the shooting at the mall.
So instead, they had a celebration at the park.
Magby plans to continue walking every day as he moves towards his 100th birthday. As he aims for that goal, he has an entire community of people helping him reach it.
“Everybody watches over him,” Rodgers said. “It’s heartwarming that all of these people would get together and just recognize him.”
