101st birthday parade entertains an entertaining man

After being treated to a parade for his 101st birthday Wednesday outside his Lake Zurich home, Tod Sloan said he was ready for more.

"I think I'm good for another few orbits around the sun," he said as he laughed with family and friends.

Sloan is a World War II veteran, having served as a flight instructor in the Army Air Force and was a pilot and second lieutenant when he was discharged in 1945.

After his time in the service, Sloan worked for Illinois Bell Telephone and was one of two technicians to witness the first installation of a car phone in 1946.

He was responsible for doing service on the only cellular phone tower in Chicago at that time. He was also aboard a boat in Lake Michigan, doing range testing of the new technology for use over water when the boat's motor died several miles from Chicago. He then became perhaps the first person to use a mobile phone to call for maritime rescue.

Sloan retired in 1983 from WGN-TV in Chicago as supervisor of transmitter. On his last day of work, WGN meteorologist Tom Skilling helped him carry things to his car.

"You're my hero, Dad," Walt Sloan said as his father entertained well-wishers with tales of his long life.

"It's been an interesting life," the birthday boy said.