Oldest Vet At 107 To Enjoy Memorial Day With Cigars And Whiskey

[Image via Scott D. Welch]

Inquisitr: Richard Arvine Overton is the oldest vet at 107-years-old, and he is spending his Memorial Day relaxing at home, though he may enjoy himself a little bit in the process. The World War II veteran plans on enjoying a few cigars and possibly even diving into some whiskey to remember the men and women who have died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.

Overton told FoxNews.com over the phone that he’ll more than likely spend the day on his porch in Austin, Texas, while enjoying a nice cigar.

“I don’t know, some people might do something for me, but I’ll be glad just to sit down and rest,” Overton said during his phone interview with FoxNews.com. “I’m no young man no more.”

Overton was recently recognized by the city of Austin’s Mayor Lee Leffingwell on May 9th and he even made a stop in Washington, D.C., on May 19th to visit the memorial sites with Honor Flight, a non-profit organization that transports veterans across the nation to visit specific memorials.

This was Overton’s first time in the nation’s capital, and though he served the United States proudly throughout his time in the armed forces, America’s oldest vet at 107 believes the wait was well worth it.

“I was really honored when I got there,” Overton said about visiting the World War II Memorial a week ago. “There were so many people, it was up in the thousands. And we danced and we jumped … them people tickled me to death. It made me happy as can be.”

Overton’s service ended in October of 1945, and he’s been living a simple life ever since, though he credits his longevity to taking aspirin daily while maintaining a stress-free lifestyle. As he approaches another Memorial Day, Overton has decided to enjoy the finer things in life, and maybe a little whiskey to liven things up a bit.

“I may drink a little in the evening too with some soda water, but that’s it,” he added. “Whiskey’s a good medicine. It keeps your muscles tender.”

Richard Overton is truly an unsung hero that represents the hard work and dedication it takes to serve the country, and there aren’t many people out there who have a spirit like the oldest vet. At 107-year-old, whiskey and a few cigars may just be the perfect way to kick back and relax on Memorial Day while remembering all the courageous men and women he served with.

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At 102 Years Old, Birthday Girl Finally Stops Smoking

Council and Heal: Birthday girl Clara Cowell has proved that it's never too late to change bad habits. At 102 years old, she finally quit smoking after picking up the habit in 1931. She did not even quit smoking because of her health - she finally stopped the habit because her family was worried that falling ash would set her house on fire.

According to the Daily Mail, Ms. Cowell has smoked two to three cigarettes a day since picking up the habit - amounting to about 60,000 cigarettes in her lifetime. But the centenarian finally quit at the urges of her family, who worried about the safety of her habit.

Ms. Cowell lives independently. Her daughters say that the secret to her success may be rooted in hard work and poverty, but also something more surprising: her cigarettes and her daily habit of a cup of tea with whiskey.

Indeed, Ms. Cowell's life has been rather tough. When her husband, a coal worker, was called in to fight during World War II, Ms. Cowell tasked herself with raising their four children by herself and working in an ammunition factory. A tailoress by trade, Ms. Cowell sewed parachutes. She says that, like many of the other girls, she took some silk for herself to sew some underwear. She says that the war was hard, that there was never enough to eat or time to sleep, but they did not suffer from the experience.

Ms. Cowell suffered from tuberculosis as a child, but does not believe in medication. At her age, she is now so sprightly that she wowed crowds at her 101^st birthday as she performed a waltz. She says that she used to love to dance when she was young, particularly the waltz and the foxtrot.

Ms. Cowell appears to still have quite a bit of life left. Her daughters reported that they spent her birthday at a pub.

In addition to her four children, Ms. Cowell has nine grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren and four great-great-grandchildren.

*We are certainly not encouraging people to smoke or to continue their negative habits until late in life.  Some of us are blessed with great genes and they can do everything wrong… and still live into their 100’s with overall good health.  But  most of us aren’t that lucky.  And with the cuts before us, especially for seniors, the better you live throughout your life, the better chance you have for living longer in the future.

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Red Wine -- It's Like the New Green Vegetable

Red wine seems to be the new “green vegetable”… good for practically everything. New research points to a surprising and counterintuitive connection between moderate wine consumption and the lower risk of a certain kind of liver disease... plus, I recently saw another study that suggests serving red wine with steaks can help diminish the harmful effects associated with eating red meat. Once again it appears that modern science is confirming age-old wisdom, in this case those who revered the “nectar of the Gods.”

SHALL WE DRINK TO THAT?

Of course, experts are quick to point out that wine is beneficial to your health in moderation only. That said, following are a sample of the many benefits that moderate wine consumption may confer upon your health…

• Lowers risk of liver disease.  Considered by some to be an emerging epidemic, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has become the most common chronic liver disease in the United States today, due in large part to our Western lifestyle and obesity, notes study author Jeffrey B. Schwimmer, MD, at the University of California, San Diego. He and his colleagues found that moderate wine drinkers are significantly less likely to develop NAFLD than nondrinkers, even after controlling for other possible contributing factors.

• Healthier heart. Wine in particular possesses potent heart-healthy benefits, according to a large-scale study, published in 2000, which included Copenhagen City Heart Study data. Researchers found the risk of death significantly lower than for people who did not drink wine and believe it’s due to ethanol and the substances in wine. Other research shows that the high polyphenol content in red wine protects the linings of cardiovascular blood vessels and may inhibit plaque formation.

• Prostate cancer protection. Men who drink four to seven glasses of red wine weekly are half as likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer as men who do not drink red wine, according to research from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. Doctors speculate that healthful antioxidant compounds such as flavonoids and resveratrol are responsible for this effect. White wine was helpful too, but not as much as red wine, which is a richer source of these health-promoting compounds.

• Kidney care.  Drinking at least two glasses of red wine a week may lower the risk of kidney cancer, say doctors at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. Beneficial effects were also found with white wine and strong beer, but not liquor. Other research, conducted in part at Harvard Medical School, suggests that men who consume seven or more drinks weekly have a 29% lower risk of developing kidney problems.

• Longer life.  One day resveratrol may prove to be the key to unlocking the secret of lasting youth. Laboratory tests demonstrate that this antioxidant compound in red wine prevents early death in mice that were fed high-fat diets.  (For more on the health benefits of resveratrol, see Daily Health News, August 2007.) Yet so far no human research has taken place, so further study is needed.

TO YOUR HEALTH

So it seems there’s some merit to such toasts as “salud” (health) and “l’chaim” (to life).  Enjoying a glass of red wine with your evening meal may indeed improve your health and extend your life -- but do so with restraint, and drink at mealtime, since food slows alcohol absorption. Most experts suggest that an intake of one to two glasses of wine a day for men and one for women is optimal for health benefits. More, however, may increase the risk of some of the consequences of excessive alcohol consumption. Red wines have more polyphenols than white (which, as noted above, can also be beneficial) but not all red wines offer equal potency of this health-promoting compound. A study in the scientific journal Nature reported that the most powerful heart-healthy polyphenols are procyanidins, which is the main source of the vascular health benefits in red wine. Wines from Southern France and Sardinia were found to have higher concentrations, due to production methods. Other research shows that the darker the wine, in general, the healthier.

However none of this is meant to suggest you ought to cultivate a wine habit if you don’t want to or don’t particularly enjoy it.  Immoderate alcohol consumption has a greater negative effect than the positive beneficial effects. Dr. Schwimmer takes cautionary advice a step further, warning that people at risk for alcohol abuse or alcoholism (for example, those with a personal or family history) should not consume wine or other alcoholic beverages.  Fortunately for teetotalers, there’s an excellent alternative -- red grape juice and grapes themselves are rich sources of many of the same beneficial compounds as red wine. Other antioxidant-packed options include blueberries, cranberries, elderberries and pomegranates. If you’re worried about the consequences of imbibing too much nectar of the Gods, just reach for a bunch of grapes.

Source(s):

Jeffrey B. Schwimmer, MD, director, Fatty Liver Clinic, associate professor of pediatrics, Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition, Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Diego, California