WAYSIDE - On Monday March 20, O.T. Poole turned 101 years young. As he scooted around his house on a walker, the centenarian sported a burgundy jogging suit. He never disclosed any specific secrets to longevity, but he did share how he has managed to move through such a long life and once he finished his thoughts, it read like life lessons 101. “I never smoked and never drinked,” he said. “I also loved to garden and get out in the yard during the warmer months.”
Poole’s son, Britt added, “Dad didn’t chase wild women either…well except maybe my mother!”
“I had a very happy marriage,” the elder Poole said. “And I don’t think that I would do anything different if I had the chance to go back.”
The elder Poole was married to his wife Marie for 74 years. They also have another son, David.
Britt chimed in, “he’s the hippie child. I’m the more handsome one!”
Another value that O.T. Poole embodied throughout this life’s journey was lifelong learning. He grew up on a farm in Northern Alabama and graduated from Florence State University. He spent a long career as an insurance adjuster for a couple of companies including Calvert Fire Insurance. Poole’s training in the insurance business led him to stops in Pennsylvania, Memphis and eventually to Greenville. He retired from the insurance business and started working for Frank England in the body shop at England Motor Company. “After he left England Motor Company, I got him on at Uncle Ben’s,” Britt said. “He was the oldest employee out there.”
Poole’s century plus of life has not been without its challenges. Three decades ago, he suffered a heart attack and stroke in a short period of time. He learned from this experience to take his doctor;s advice. “Dr (Benjamin) Folk checked me out and said that the heart attack didn’t do any damage to my heart,” Poole recalled. “Three weeks later, I had the stroke and he said the same thing about it. And he’s been checking me out ever since.”
A lot has changed during Poole’s life. He grew up in northern Alabama between the Great Depression and World War II. He served his country in the US Air Force as an aircraft mechanic. His upbringing leading up to his time in the Air Force demonstrated that his life was running parallel to the innovations in technology along with the nostalgia of simple rural life. “I wanted to train to be a pilot in the Air Force but by the time the US had bombed Hiroshima, they did not need as many pilots so I trained to be a mechanic on the B-29,” Poole said. “My fondest memory of growing up was that my parents had a horse drawn vehicle. And I remember riding in the back of it to our church that was four or five miles away from our house. I really just enjoyed all of the activities and meals that we used to have at the church.”
Perhaps the most important thing that Poole had in his favor from the start was his impressive bloodline. And that’s something that he can't teach but can definitely talk about. “Nobody that I can recall in my family has lived as long as I have,” Poole said. “I’ve had aunts and uncles who have lived to get into their nineties.”
