LEWISTON (AP) – There weren’t any classmates to share memories with, but 100-year-old Alfred Webber found plenty of admirers when he returned to Bates College to mark his 80th class reunion this weekend.

“They really make a lot of it,” said the Chadds Ford, Pa., resident, who flew to Maine for the gathering of about 1,000 Bates alumni from classes spanning the last several decades. “Age is something you can’t avoid. You just get older – that’s all.”

Webber is the only member of any of the classes of the 1920s who attended the reunion, the college said. A Lisbon Falls, Maine, native, Webber majored in physics and math at Bates before launching a three-decade career with DuPont Co. that took him to southeastern Pennsylvania.

He stays active and involved in hobbies including astronomy, and drives a car. “My license expires in 2011,” he said during a telephone interview Saturday. Webber said he also spends time with his friend and neighbor, artist Andrew Wyeth, who’s a decade younger than Webber.

“I live just four doors from Andy,” said Webber.

Born on Oct. 10, 1907 when Theodore Roosevelt was president, Webber graduated from high school in his hometown before enrolling in Bates. The private, liberal arts school’s 1928 yearbook makes reference to Webber’s interest in French and music.

His first job after graduation was orchestra director at Franklin, Mass., high school. Webber became principal at the Brookline, Mass., high school in 1937, but returned to school for graduate work in physics. He received a master’s degree from Boston University in 1940.

Webber went to work in 1942 for DuPont Co., working in the plastics research division through 1972. During his time there, Webber joined the American Society for Testing Materials, now ATSM International, which develops standards for products and services, and traveled all over Europe.

In June 1932, Webber married Margaret Vaughan. Their children range from range from 66 to 73.

Asked what he credits for his many years, Webber said, “If a woman asks me that, I say I had a good wife. She’s been gone since 1984.

“I feel pretty good. I don’t have any health problems that I know of. I don’t smoke. I drink socially. I think I take pretty good care of myself.”

Webber keeps busy with his home observatory, which has a roll-off roof. He is also a lapidary, cutting and polishing precious stones, and has equipment to display stereo images of tiny crystals.

AP-ES-06-07-08 1209EDT