Can't open Word file

Ok, this is weird but I went to open a file that I haven't returned to since 1990 and, suddenly, it shows in the finder pane as a dark grey rectangular icon with green lettering saying "exec." 
There seem to be quite a few files like this scattered about my hard drive and if there's a way anyone can think of to open them, I'd appreciate it lots.  They were created in an early (circa 1990) version of Microsoft Word.

Then in the file's name under the icon place your cursor there and press RETURN to activate renaming. Rename it to "whatever.doc" then press RETURN again. You may be asked about replacing an existing extensions with the new one - say OK. Now double-click on the file icon and see if Word will open on its own. If it won't, then you'll have to open Word, select Open from the File menu, navigate to this file, select it, click on the Open button. You will probably need to change the dropdown menu to show All Files in order to be able to select the file you want.
Don't fear, but Word may not be able to open such an old file. I don't really know.

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