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Henry Bassinger

Watertown Daily Times, 09 19 1992

Henry Bassinger, who died 60 years ago this year, never drank a drop of water for 69 years prior to his death. A civil war veteran, he died in 1932 at the age of 101.

Bassinger always (said) water is fit to shave with and to take a bath, but as for drinking it, no way.

And he had his own good reason for that view. In place of water, he drank soda or other liquids but never water.

Bassinger's abhorrence of water dated back to a midsummer day in 1863 when he was a Civil War soldier. It was then that he was sent by his commanding officer to bring water for the troops who were camped some distance from a small stream after a battle had ended.

Bassinger found the stream polluted by animal carcasses, including a number of horses which had been killed in battle. The stream was still running red with blood. Then and there he made a vow that as long as he lived he would never again drink water. For 69 years, down to the day of his death, he kept his promise. He drank plenty of coffee, soda and other beverages that contained water, but never partook of water alone.

Bassinger was a remarkable man in many ways. Up until almost the last days of his life, he was active and spry. On his 100th birthday he was a guest of the Watertown Rotary Club. At the time the club met in the lower dining hall of the Watertown Elks Lodge.

As many of our readers know, to enter that area entails walking down a few steps. When he was brought to the club in a car, Joe said officers of the club, including the late Frank P. McAdams, then president of the Wisconsin National Bank (now Valley Bank South Central's Watertown office), wanted to assist him in walking down the stairs. He brushed them aside and made it clear he could make it alone.

Rotarians were amazed at his alert mind, his keen wit and his personal resourcefulness at the age of 100. He made a little speech in which he said life had been good to him. He said he hoped to live to be 103. He nearly made it. He was 101 when he died.