A positive attitude and a love for helping his fellow man has kept Al Hair going strong for the past 86 years.

"In my younger days, I never had a high regard for myself, but when I started working for myself, I realized I had something to offer, that my ideas were worthwhile," said Hair. "I have always tried to be positive and even if I don't have a smile on my face, I refuse to be grumpy."

When Hair was six weeks old, his family got into a covered wagon and instead of heading west, they headed east out of Braggs, Okla., ending up near Van Buren, Ark.

Hair also called Tulsa home for a time and he spent 12 years in Texas before settling in Chickashain 1965.

That same year, Hair and his daughter Rita joined the Nazarene Church in Chickasha. Today, the two are the longest-standing members of the local church and Hair is also the oldest member.

While on several mission trips for the church, called "Work and Witness," Hair kept a journal, reporting on events of the trips. As a result, he is now the unofficial church historian.

"I wrote down everything I could think of like what happened, and who was there and I didn't worry about whether it was 'literary'," said Hair.

A graduate of the University of Tulsa with an engineering degree in physics, Hair worked for IBM in Tulsa for six years.

"I realized I was not the 'Type A' personality required for the job, so I left my college training and went to work for the Boy Scouts in Dallas," said Hair.

The only boy in a family of girls and the father of four daughters, Hair was jokingly accused of going to work for the Boy Scouts to get some boys. And, for the first 10 years with the Boy Scouts, Hair did spend a lot of time with the boys camping in the woods.

"I grew up in Arkansas and I was the only boy in the family. I never cared for hunting or fishing and I had no money for a camera, but I loved to walk in the woods," said Hair.

Because of his love for the great outdoors, in 1976, Hair took his family on a vacation in Colorado. While climbing a mountain to see a waterfall, one of Hair's daughters, who suffers from asthma, started having problems breathing in the thin mountain air.

Hair cut her a walking stick for support and to ease her way up the hill.

That walking stick grew into a kind of hobby that has endured to this day. In fact, Hair is rarely seen without one of his unusual staves.