William Lawlis Pace, the Guinness World Records holder for living the longest with a bullet in his head, died Monday at Covenant Village in Turlock. He was 103.
The Bee's Jeff Jardine featured Mr. Pace in a 2006 column shortly after he received notification of the record — at that time he was 97 years old and his record was 89 years.
Born Feb. 27, 1909, in Wheeler, Texas, Mr. Pace was 8 years old when his brother, Marvin, accidentally shot him in October 1917.
Doctors left the bullet in place, fearing he wouldn't survive surgery to remove it. It didn't stop him from playing baseball and basketball as a boy.
He went on to enjoy a marriage (wife Onetia died in 2004) that lasted 71 years and produced two sons, and he farmed in Hilmar for more than six decades.
His final Guinness World Record: 94 years, six months.
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