“I MAY GIVE OUT BUT I NEVER GIVE UP”

Other than the fact he was born in 1906, there was nothing really special about Richard Arvin Overton. His first car came with a crank that was inserted into the front of the car and turned to start the engine. He married twice, lived out his days in Bastrop and claimed a distant relation to President Andrew Jackson. Mr. Overton was just four months shy of turning 113 when he passed from this world on Thursday evening. The oldest living survivor of World War II, Mr. Overton had witnessed a great deal in his lifetime and those experiences led him to formulate a simple approach to life. Often, due to his advanced years, family and friends would tell him “God kept you here to help others.” His response was, “I ain’t talked to God and he ain’t talked to me. I don’t know why I’m here.” Mr. Overton enlisted in September of 1940 at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio and was shipped off to Hawaii after basic training, where he would witness the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. “It wasn’t a good thing but we had to go. Made you more braver, more stronger. Man’ll kill ya but God’s the one keepin’ you alive.” Much has been made of Mr. Overton’s love of Tampa Sweet cigars and whiskey and these were simple pleasures he appreciated. He also had a companion, Ms. Love, who he enjoyed spending time with. He lived in the house he bought shortly after he returned from the war in 1945, and he was still driving on a drivers’ license he had renewed in 2015. He was visited in his home by then-Governor Rick Perry and he and Ms. Love were invited to the White House in 2015 where he was honored by then-President Barack Obama. Other than those special moments, he lived quietly in his home, living out his days as most do. He had a family to care for him. He had a spiritual life and a church home. He valued his independence and stayed in his home until he could no longer. Mr. Overton was pretty much an Everyman; a representative of a life well lived. Indeed, there was nothing special about Mr. Overton…except he lived more than112 years, cherished the American Dream, lived a spiritual life, enjoyed his creature comforts, and served as a reminder to us all that the life he lived was in no small way due to his service to his country. Ours too.