109-Year-Old Veteran and His Secrets to Life Will Make You Smile | Short Film Showcase

[Music] Yeah, a lot of people say God kept you here to help others, but I don't know why he kept me here. I can't tell you. I ain't talk to him; he ain't talk to me. My name is Richard Ain Overton. I am 109 years old! [Music] I still walk, I still talk, and I still drive. [Music] [Music]

I just got my life renewed this year. They give me a test; everything they give me, I pass it. I feel good going on. [Music] I like to drive myself, 'cause the other drivers drive [Music] crazy. I am the oldest war veteran. I went in the Army at 1940, made more braver and stronger. I can see whatever door is open here when I lock on it. Yeah, no, ain't nothing going to be. You see a soldier with a gun; you don't see him turn around and go back. This short, he may go sideways, but he ain't going to turn around and go back. Uh-uh, don't care how hot them bullets are; he ain't going to go back.

So, when you go in there, you say, "Well, God got me now." See, he going to take care of you if you want. If it's your time to go, that bullet going to get you. If it ain't your time to go, that bullet going over your head. It ain't going to hit you, go man to kill you, but God's the one to keep you. [Music] [Music] [Music]

It wasn't good, but we had to go. [Music] I built me a house, and that's in '45. That's where I've been ever since. It's a nice place to live. Yeah, I'm happy with my house; that's all I need. I'd buy one thing, I would use that one thing. I wouldn't buy one thing, go buy nothing, go buy another. I got a truck out, and it runs just like I want it, so I just keep [Music] it.

But I don't fool with a credit card; never for everything I get, I pay cash for it. I got 50 cents a day—that's way back—but I lived out of that, 'cause everything was nickel and dime, 3 cents. I remember when the man got the first Ford. I was working at a—I think I picked cotton down there—and we heard that he was going to get a car. We didn't know what a car was. We heard about it, but we never went to town much. My first car was a little old '42 old Ford; it had a front crank. You remember them?

I know you weren't born then, were you? No, I know you weren't. I just said there and smoked sometimes, 12 cigars a day, maybe sometime more than that. Anybody said, "What you smoking for?" I guess it makes you feel better. [Music] But you can't inhale; just go ahead and just smear out and let her go and forget about it.

Swan, SW, a no taste to it, just makes you cold. I'm going to hell every time I get up in the morning; that cat's sitting there waiting. And either go to bed, sometimes they're sitting up there waiting because they want to get to supper, and then they want to go to bed. But you don't feed a cat too much 'cause he won't eat a rat.

I help those cats in; they keep me happy. I tell the truth, it keeps me happy. I want to see my cats every morning. I wake up at 1:00; I either wake up at 2:00 or 3:00. Anytime I wake up, I just get up. I get me a cup of coffee; sometimes I drink about four cups of coffee in the morning. This morning, I drank about that much whiskey. I love milk and fish, corn and soup. I love soup. A lot of people don't like soup and don't drink milk, but I've been drinking milk for over pretty all my life.

And ice cream? I eat ice cream every night. It makes me happy. Hey, but butter? But for corn, if you want to buy, you buy butter for corn. It is the old diet; is anybody's diet they want to eat. [Music]

Church is a wonderful [Music] place, a lovely place. It keeps me going, makes me feel good. I think that helps me push myself along. Going to [Music] church, you learn something at church too; learn how to live better, how to treat people. We don't have all the answers; got to save some of the answers for somebody else to do. And singing? I love that church singing. [Music]

Beautiful church is just for everybody. But you got to go for one person—that's yourself. Good to have a respect for your life, but you got to live [Music] it.

Makes you feel better to have a person around you like this. We get along real nice. Well, she's 91 years old, and I'm 109. [Music]

And yeah, we go to the hospital to see people. We go to the grocery store; we go shopping sometime, and I take her to church and take her different places. She's just a nice person. Yep, we have fun together. I've seen lots and lots of living, but I'm still living good. Ain't suffering for nothing; I get what I want, so I still live it all right. [Music]

I give up—you're through. You just down [Music] yourself. I am, I'm giving you some of my secret to a long life. If you ever use it, if you don't use it, that's your bad [Music] luck. My time ain't got here yet, and I don't know when I come here, and I don't know where I'm going; you either, neither one of us knows where we [Music] going. I may give out, but I never give up. [Music] [Music] [Music]