Active Tampa Centenarian to Celebrate 104th Birthday

A Tampa centenarian is celebrating a birthday not many get to see.

Joe Guggino is expected to celebrate his 104th birthday on July 31, and has seen just about everything life can throw at someone in his years living in the Tampa Bay area.

Born in 1910, Guggino has seen a mafia hit, been through two world wars and worked several jobs. His longest employer was a local railroad, where he worked more than 40 years.

Guggino grew up in segregated Tampa but was raised never to think of himself as better than others. His father encouraged him to play with local kids of different skin colors and lower socioeconomic status, even if proper convention at the turn of the 20th century barred such behavior.

Mr. Guggino, who still lives an active life in the Tampa area in 2014 well into his second century, has an answer to the age-old question, “what’s your secret?"