Austin's Oldest Veteran Hopes To Avoid Nursing Home

AUSTIN, TX — Richard Overton, the nation's oldest-living World War II veteran who makes his home in East Austin, is trying to avoid ending up in a nursing home, preferring instead the familiar surroundings of his own abode.

A GoFundMe campaign was launched to ensure just that. At 111 years old (that is not a typo), the war vet is in need of round-the-clock in-home care from a professional to ensure nursing home avoidance. Hence the crowdfunding drive. His longevity has reached the record books, where he's said to quite possibly be the oldest man in the world and the third-oldest in the entire world.

And he's still going strong, turning 112 next month. He was born on May 11, 1906, in Texas, and served in the Pacific Theater from 1942 to 1945 as part of the all-black 1887th Engineer Aviation Battalion.

Having outlived his closest family members, Overton has turned to the public to help him achieve his dream of spending his Golden Years at home. Many in Austin consider the beloved Overton something of an extended family member, as evidenced by the nearly 5,000 people who have donated to his GoFundMe page since its launch 15 months ago.

Related story: Nation's Oldest Living WWII Vet Celebrating His 110th Birthday In East Austin

He's something of a celebrity in Austin, having been honored numerous times for his heroic service during WWII so many decades ago. Among those honoring him was President Barack Obama who hosted him at a White House breakfast before visiting Arlington National Cemetery for a Veterans Day ceremony.

Overton met President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden

Three years ago, Austin filmmakers Rocky Conly and Matt Cooper made a short film about Austin's favorite war veteran, raising his celebrity status even more.

Fellow Austinite Ben Crenshaw, the famous golfer, have teamed up in their shared cause of saving the Lions Municipal Golf Course from development. Research suggests the so-called Muny — now in the National Registry of Historic Places — became in 1950 the first course in the South to desegregate shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court decision of Sweatt v. Painter, more than three years before the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education.

Overton with Ben Crenshaw

Just as he helped save the lionized Muny, Overton now needs a bit of saving himself. After all, a nursing home would likely not allow him to indulge in the cigars and whiskey he still enjoys regularly. His penchant for the former was memorialized in the pages of Cigar Aficionado, which featured him in a story headlined "America's Oldest Cigar Smoker."

In fact, Overton credits "cigars and God" as among the keys to is longevity — and not necessarily in that order.

“His front porch is his everything,” Volma Overton, his 70-year-old cousin who helps care for him, told the Washington Post. “It’s his throne.” The younger Overton noted the $15,000 month needed for home care has nearly run out since the GoFundMe was launched 15 months ago.

At last check, the GoFundMe page had raised $227,650 of a $400,000 goal among 4,857 donors. To help Overton stay in his own home, visit the GoFundMe page set up for him by clicking here.

Richard Overton being greeted by a general at the 2016 Army All American Alamo Bowl in San Antonio along with a pair of Tuskegee Airmen.

>>> Photos of Richard Overton via GoFundMe, a Patch promotional partner, including top photo showing Overton in 2013 at the White House before accompanying President Barack Obama to the to Arlington National Cemetery for a Veterans Day ceremony where he was honored.