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 ...
God bless this man! As a vet it brings tears to my eyes. I’m hoping and praying whiskey and cigars are the secret to longevity!Live on and on corporal!
That is literally what my aunt said! I guess she was right- she lived to only 96.
Somebody buy this guy a fine cigar!
A few years back ago our personal MD and a good friend told us, where we had spent too much research money in medicine.
He said that we spent too much money researching just sick people.
He felt that doctors across America should identify the really healthy patients in their practice.
Then, medical researchers should spend time with those people doing DNA studies, life style studies, pysch profiles and their physical and mental abilities in their senior years. To find out what made them so different.
He had about 3 dozen patients in his practice, family members, including his FIL who was active past his 100th birthday. He knew of non patients like my wife’s mother and my mother, who were active up to 90+ and others he knew personally.
Besides the obvious benchmark of living a long life keyed by their DNA, he identied some key factors.
#1 Their lives were basically based on no extremes or as he labeled, a life of moderation. They lived life and were not wall flowers.
#2. They loved their families, friends, neighbors and were often, active members in a church or synagogue.
#3. Most of the men had served in the military and were proud that they did.
#4. Most had one marriage partner and 50 years+ of marriage were common.
#5. Their core friends were often from the same church and/or volunteer organizations.
#6. They loved food. Again everything in moderation. At least one or both partners were good cooks. They had their own gardens and found local farmers to buy local fresh food products. They had basically ended up with modified Med diets. They enjoyed their bacon, ham, eggs, steaks, pork, chicken and often loved good fresh sea food.
#7. They all drank wine at least once a day before or with the evening meal, some had a glass at noon/lunch. Hard liquor might be consumed on a special occassions, like one martini.
#8. They were active and the main exercise was daily walks and sometimes twice a day. No runners and none needing new knees and hips. Some played good tennis, swam and skied into their 80+ years. None needed by pass surgeries in spite of their diets.
#9. Their parents and grandparents often fitted into the same brackets and above.
#10. None of them smoked. If they had, it was for a short time. Some men and a few women enjoyed a cigar on special days.
His summary was: They enjoyed life and lived a good life. They enjoyed good health for all if not most of their lives.
So, he felt we needed to study these people to see what could be transfered to other people re life styles, not by medicine or surgery.
All good points. Much more interesting to find out what went right instead of wrong.
He was indeed. Good bless him.
This has everything to do with genetics and I doubt I have Mr. Overton’s genes.
According to the rules of the game, if he was ill, because of his advanced age, the bean counters on the other end of the phone would have said prepare for hospice under Obama’s rules.
rwood
Yes. Our doctor friend, has said that there is too much money in dealing with the sick instead of finding out what really keeps us healthy.
He said that if American was populated by families like his, his wife’s, my wife’s and my family, we could close down most hospitals and doctor’s offices.
He said, there would be no need for health insurance, just a disaster insurance policy in case of accidents and the rare serious health problem. There would be no need for crisis centers, drug/alcohol with drawal centers. Most pregancies and delivery’s could be handled by mid wife RN’s. The ER’s would handle the real emergencies due to accidents that would still happen.
He used to joke that if he really pushed his concepts, the CIA would be told to take him out!
The guy keep his weight down. Not emaciated, but lean. This is always the key factor in longevity in animal studies.
I wholeheartedly agree with your doctor’s observations - not only does that lead to a longer life, but a happier one too.
I recall a senior NCO in country, that did a tour in the Korean War.
He was considered old, but no one said a word, he was hard core!
Thinking back, he may been a young man in his late thirties.
The longer lifes and happier ones seem to go hand in hand together.
It is becoming a truism today with our overweight teens and other people and early Type 2 diabetes and heart problems.
Awesome. Thank you for your service to our country, sir!
Yes, he was a really good looking guy during WW2.
Guess he borrowed the jacket.
Thank you for your service to our country, corporal!
God Bless Mr. Overton ! When your front porch is your stage life is good.
Yes, we had a few Korean War types IN SF. Those guys helped start SOG along with Majors and above who had combat in Korea, Laos, and/or Vietnam.
I don’t care how old he is, it still doesn’t make any of that right.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.