02-04-2025
South Austin stalwart Micky Caldwell celebrates 105th birthday with relatives, friends
Micky Caldwell, something of a South Austin icon for decades, turns 105 on April 2.
In his honor, relatives, friends and four Austin firefighters gathered on his driveway for a birthday party on March 29.
"Yes, he's healthy," confirmed one of his daughters, Sharon Howell. "Some trouble with his eyesight, but he hasn't lost his sense of humor."
In fact, as Caldwell greeted visitors on his driveway, he shook hands with the men, but he valiantly kissed the hands of the women.
A smiling cavalier into his 11th decade, Caldwell served as the subject of a major American-Statesman profile when he turned 101.
Back then, Caldwell gave a Statesman reporter and a photographer a tour of his youthful haunts, which included the former Grace Methodist Church on East Monroe Street, which his father, Thomas Fletcher Caldwell Sr., helped build in 1914; several shops on South Congress that the Caldwell family had occupied with various businesses; apartments above what is now Kendra Scott's Texas-themed Yellow Rose Collection that Caldwell built by hand from material salvaged from World War II-era Camp Swift; and a tiny house on Newtown Street that Caldwell enhanced with a basement, unusual for Austin.
More on Micky Caldwell: We take a unique South Austin history tour with 101-year-old Micky Caldwell
"Few people have lived so much South Austin history as Malcolm 'Micky' Caldwell, 101," began the Nov. 12, 2021 article. "The descendent of early Texas pioneers, Caldwell has spent almost his entire life within a few square miles south of the river."
The perennial charitable volunteer shared a pretty simple philosophy that has informed his long years and could be witnessed at his driveway birthday party.
"Nothing is worthwhile till it's shared," the centenarian said. "You can have a bank account, but it doesn't mean anything until you use it. Service is the rent you pay for the space you occupy in the community."
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Relatives, friends celebrate Micky Caldwell's 105th birthday in Austin
