Last year, over Veteran’s Day weekend, CNBC spoke with Overton in his home in Austin, Texas. He wore a peach button-down shirt with brown slacks, a black World War II veteran hat and bulky New Balance tennis shoes.
The supercentenarian, known for smoking Tampa Sweet cigars and lacing his morning coffee with Jack Daniel’s, would often joke that these two items were his “best friends.”
“These are my best friends since everyone else keeps on leaving me,” Overton told CNBC. “I started smoking these cigars since I was 18 years old,” he said. “I don’t inhale them. All I do is smoke ’em and blow the smoke out. I never swallow the smoke,” added Overton, who smoked more than 12 cigars a day.
Within the last two years, Overton fought several bouts of pneumonia, but aside from that, his family said he was in good health.
“Fortunately, Richard isn’t in a major need of anything. He only takes a few pills and hasn’t really had a major health problem,” Overton’s cousin, Volma, said last year.
“I’ve got my good health, and as long as I have my good health I’ll keep dancing,” Overton said.