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At age 111, America's oldest veteran is still smoking cigars, drinking whiskey and loving life
Dallas News ^ | 2 Jun 17 | Brendan Meyer

Posted on 06/03/2017 3:59:20 AM PDT by SkyPilot

AUSTIN — Richard Overton is right where he wants to be.

He’s sitting in a lawn chair on the front porch of the Austin home he built nearly 70 years ago, working on his fifth Tampa Sweet cigar on a 91-degree sunny day. The smooth tunes of the Isley Brothers flow from a portable speaker. Birds are chirping in the late afternoon breeze.

“I’m feeling pretty good today,” Overton says, emphasizing the word pretty, because any day spent on this porch smoking cigars is a pretty good day for the 111-year-old.

This is where you’ll find the nation’s oldest veteran for 10 hours every day when the weather is nice. His friends call it his “stage.” It’s where Overton sits and thinks about life, his starting in 1906, the same year as the first wireless radio broadcast and a year before the paper towel was invented.

Richard Overton, 111, smokes a cigar on his Austin front porch among signs from his recent birthday celebration. Overton is the oldest living U.S. war veteran.

On this day, Overton is wearing a red cardigan buttoned over a powder blue polo, with light blue slacks and a black World War II veteran hat. He’s smiling and joking and feeling thankful. The previous week, Overton was wearing a hospital gown. He spent those sunny days stuck in a hospital bed with a 102-degree fever, in a non-smoking room, hooked to an IV as his body tried to fight off its latest bout of pneumonia. Overton prayed and flirted with nurses. Four days later, he was back where he wanted to be, on his stage with the birds and two packs of cigars.

Life has slowed year by year for the lifelong Austin resident. He was once a soldier in the U.S. military...

(Excerpt) Read more at dallasnews.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: military; patriot; richardoverton; texas; veteran; ww2; wwii
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"He’s met celebrities and politicians and athletes, each asking him the same question about his secret to longevity. His answer? God and cigars."

Richard Overton, 111, smokes a cigar on his front porch on Thursday, May 25, 2017, in Austin. Overton is known for smoking cigars and drinking whiskey on his front porch. He is the oldest living U.S. war veteran.

Richard Arvine Overton, America's oldest-living verified war veteran, served in the South Pacific from 1940 through 1945 and left the U.S. Army as a corporal.

In March 2017, Richard Overton was given a special presentation honoring him as the oldest living American war veteran, during a timeout in an NBA basketball game between the Memphis Grizzlies and the San Antonio Spurs.

Medals, ribbons and patches that Richard Overton, 111, earned during his time in the U.S. Army are displayed in his living room in Austin.

Richard Overton (left) smokes a cigar with neighborhood friends Donna Shorts (center) and Martin Wilford in May 2015, in Austin, when Overton was 109. Wilford says that he has known Overton for 37 years and he looks at Mr. Overton as if he were his biological father

Martin Wilford, a relative of Richard Overton, pulls one of his cousin's whiskey bottles from a dresser drawer. Overton has them stashed all over the house, especially after receiving more than 40 for his 111th birthday.

1 posted on 06/03/2017 3:59:20 AM PDT by SkyPilot
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To: ExTexasRedhead; xzins; Snake Eater; 2ndDivisionVet; Jet Jaguar; BlackFemaleArmyCaptain; ...

Ping


2 posted on 06/03/2017 4:01:08 AM PDT by SkyPilot ("I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6)
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To: SkyPilot

In before “this guy does all this crap so everyone can do it too and live this long” crowd.


3 posted on 06/03/2017 4:03:29 AM PDT by raybbr (That progressive bumper sticker on your car might just as well say, "Yes, I'm THAT stupid!")
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To: SkyPilot

The man has good taste in whiskey. Woodford Reserve is good stuff!.....red


4 posted on 06/03/2017 4:04:06 AM PDT by rednek ("Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.")
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To: SkyPilot

Mr. Overton ... Thank You, Sir. May all Americans learn by your example!!!


5 posted on 06/03/2017 4:06:30 AM PDT by no-to-illegals (If America Cared would a moslem cair?)
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To: SkyPilot

Some people simply have the genes.


6 posted on 06/03/2017 4:12:25 AM PDT by albie
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To: SkyPilot
God and cigars, eheheh. Looks like Rush will be around for a few more decades. 👍🏼
7 posted on 06/03/2017 4:14:57 AM PDT by tflabo
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To: no-to-illegals

He was a very good looking young man!


8 posted on 06/03/2017 4:20:35 AM PDT by MayflowerMadam ("Negative people make healthy people sick." - Roger Ailes)
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To: SkyPilot

Without the cigars and whiskey, he’d probably live to 150.

Just kidding. God has blessed you, Mr. Overton!


9 posted on 06/03/2017 4:24:20 AM PDT by Fresh Wind (Hillary: Go to jail. Go directly to jail. Do not pass GO. Do not collect 2 billion dollars.)
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To: Fresh Wind
God has blessed you, Mr. Overton!

Him, and us, by keeping him around.

10 posted on 06/03/2017 4:34:42 AM PDT by Hardastarboard (Three most annoying words on the internet - "Watch the Video")
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To: Hardastarboard

He was 34-39 in WWII. He was in the Western Pacific. Imagine humping the bush at 37-39 as a corporal with an Infantry squad.


11 posted on 06/03/2017 4:48:48 AM PDT by Lumper20
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To: Lumper20

That’s awesome.

I knew one guy that joined our basic platoon at 39. He struggled because he wasn’t all that fit, thankfully he went to a wog (without guts) unit. Wog units are anything except combat engineers and infantry heh.

This guy probably made the 20 year olds look soft though heh.


12 posted on 06/03/2017 4:53:50 AM PDT by Bulwyf
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To: SkyPilot

Well dang! I’m proud of my little uber liberal town honoring this old vet and funding a “go fund me” site.

He was born 7 yea s before my dad and my dads been gone 39 years!


13 posted on 06/03/2017 5:15:46 AM PDT by Cen-Tejas
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To: Bulwyf

This guy makes todays snowflakes look like a wimp.


14 posted on 06/03/2017 5:18:35 AM PDT by just me (God bless President Trump and the USA)
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To: Fresh Wind

But he is no longer watching Captain Kangaroo . . . or counting flowers on the wall.


15 posted on 06/03/2017 5:43:04 AM PDT by Vigilanteman (ObaMao: Fake America, Fake Messiah, Fake Black man. How many fakes can you fit into one Zer0?)
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To: Cen-Tejas

I read the comments after the story. One person objected to Obama being mentioned in the story, and then others berated that guy. I wanted someone to point out that if it were up to Obama, this elderly gentleman would have been given a “pain pill” instead of being treated in a hospital during a recent illness, but I’m not sure how to comment on that site.


16 posted on 06/03/2017 5:46:50 AM PDT by Pining_4_TX (For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. ~ Hosea 8:7)
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To: raybbr

He also said: “If I knew I was going to live this long I would have taken better care of myself”


17 posted on 06/03/2017 5:49:39 AM PDT by SkyDancer (You know they invented wheelbarrows to teach FAA inspectors to walk on their hind legs.)
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To: Vigilanteman
But he is no longer watching Captain Kangaroo . . . or counting flowers on the wall.

Yeah, but don't tell him he's got nothing to do.

18 posted on 06/03/2017 5:49:59 AM PDT by GreenHornet
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To: SkyPilot

To think he could live to 211 if only he led a healthy lifestyle.


19 posted on 06/03/2017 5:59:01 AM PDT by bgill (CDC site, "We don't know how people are infected with Ebola.")
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To: SkyPilot

What a man! God bless him.


20 posted on 06/03/2017 6:00:45 AM PDT by Theophilus (Repent)
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