Ora Holland

 

Ora Holland at her 112th birthday party.

Ora Reed was born December 24, 1900 to Nathan and Stella Reed of Rosebud Missouri who recorded the event in the family Bible. “That's the way we did it back then. I never had a birth certificate.”  The third of twelve children, Ora attended school in a one room school house and suffered numerous health problems as a young girl. “They told me I wouldn't live to age 10, but look at me now!”  At age 22 she married Thomas Holland and had two children; one died at birth.  After 18 years of marriage, she and Thomas divorced and she never remarried. As a single mother with only an eighth grade education, she worked at a shipyard during World War II to make ends meet, stating, “I was Rosie the Riveter, but that was a long time ago”  Later she started and ran her own beauty shop for 12 years and then started her own childcare business which she operated for ten years. “It was a lot of work, but I did alright.”

Ora celebrated her 100^th birthday by buying a new car which she used to drive herself to the store and to church each week until age 108. “A policeman gave me a speeding ticket last year and I decided it was time for me to stop driving. Besides, I can't see like I used to.”

At the time of this interview, Ora was 108 years old. Strong physically, mentally and fiercely independent, she was still living by herself in her own home, doing her own cooking, cleaning and even mowing the lawn! “I plan on doing for myself as long as the Lord will let me.”

You were a single mother and business owner with an 8^th grade education. How did you learn to manage your money?

Well, I just learned, just like you learn. Somebody didn't poke it down you did they? You learn it by doing it. That's how everybody learns. When I left my husband, I got out without anything. That was way back when salaries wasn't much and we didn't have much either. My parents never helped me with a dime, but I was used to hard work; I was raised on a farm. So I went and found a job in the shipyards and finally started making some money. It wasn't much, but it was enough to get by. Then once you get it, just don't spend it. You best start saving it. You know, when salaries were good, people thought their money was going to last forever. They spent it instead of putting it in the bank and saving it for a rainy day. That's why so many people today are in trouble and wondering if they're going to lose their homes, because they didn't save their money.

I've got a couple of grandchildren that's doing the same thing and I'm having to help them. My granddaughter and her husband own three cars. That's not necessary....not necessary at all. Then my grandson bought a new car and then bought this great big television. They need that like I need a hole in the head! They need to learn to save their money instead of just blowing it on everything that they see and want. They don't need all of those things.

What are they going to have in the future? They're going to be in trouble need help and Grandma's going to be gone. You've got to learn to save money 'cause you never know what's going to happen or when you might need it. Trust me, I know!

After 108 years of living, what advice can you give me about making my life count?

Help others. That's what our Bible says, help others. Everybody needs a little help every now and then. It doesn't necessarily have to be money. During the depression, some folks needed food and clothing and such. Sometimes people just need someone to talk to.

I've been helping for a good many years. I guess is what I'm here for. We should all be willing help each other. That's what God says for us to do. If you want to live a good life, go find somebody to help.

You mentioned God. Do you believe in God?

I sure do. I know there's a God and Jesus is His son. He means everything to me. He's taken care of me my whole life. I guess when I was young I didn't think too much about God, not like I do today. I depend on Him. I'll tell you something, if you don't believe in God and believe that Jesus is His son, there's no use you do anything else. That is a must, to believe in God and Jesus, because if you don't, nothing else matters.

I don't think I've made it all these years by myself. I think He's there taking care of me. I think that as long as we do what He says for us to do, that He's going to watch out for us and take care of us until He's ready to take us home. He says none of us are perfect. I try to be honest with everybody but I know I haven't been perfect (laughs), but He loves me anyway. God's been helpful to me my whole life. He's helpful to everybody.... if they want help.

If you believe in God, then do you ever think about heaven?

Sure I think about it. Heaven's on my mind a lot of times. I'm not afraid of the hereafter, but just going through that death stage kind of worries me. I can't say that I'm really afraid of it, I just kind of dread going through the misery and all that stuff, but God will take care of me; He always has. One things for certain; we all die. There's no gettin' around it.

It might be a long time from now and it might be a short time. We just don't know....but you'd better be ready.

Recently (May, 2013), I was able to go visit Ora Holland again at the retirement center where she now lives. She is now 113 years old and is currently the 14^th oldest living person in the world, and the 9^th oldest living American. “I can't be that old.....I don't feel that old.” “How old do you feel”, I ask. She replied “I only feel about 105!”

Her daughter Ruth is now gone, along with the rest of her family. Her grandson looks after her now and visits often, but it is obvious that she longs for the old days. “I'm the only one left,” she states. It is sad to see her lonely, living in a place she'd rather not be. At 113, she still gets around be herself, but like her eyesight, her memory is fading. “I can't remember things like I used to,” she says, struggling to recall her husband's name.

It is hard to grasp the concept of living for 113 years. To put it in perspective, she has been alive for almost 1 million hours. She will reach that milestone January 21, 2015 which will make her one of the top 100 verified oldest of the 108 billion people born over the course of human history.¹ She was born before the radio was invented, before plastic was invented, before Henry Ford produced the first car, before the Wright brothers flew the first airplane at Kittyhawk. She was a teenager when World War I broke out. The mode of transportation in her lifetime has gone from a horse and buggy to supersonic jets and space shuttles. That's a lot of changes in 113 years. It makes you wonder about the changes we'll see in our lifetimes.

Ora Holland passed away February 11, 2015 at the age of 114 years and 49 days. At the time of her death, she was the ninth oldest living American, and at the 15^th oldest person in the world.² You can learn more about Ora Holland at the links below. God bless you Ora, you were truly one of a kind.

http://www.sliceok.com/November-2014/Memories-of-a-Lifetime-The-Oldest-Oklahoman/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_supercentenarians_from_the_United_States

Ora Holland and her daughter

1 http://www.sliceok.com/November-2014/Memories-of-a-Lifetime-The-Oldest-Oklahoman/

2Gerontology Research Group

Edna Sims

 Edna Sims

Edna Greenway was born to Edmund and Lela Greenway on September 17, 1912 in Ashdown, Arkansas. Growing up with two sisters and one brother, she got the best education she could. “Back in my day we didn't have no school; they just taught you what they knew at home. We didn't have a schoolhouse for colored people in Ashdown 'til 1923.  I got to the sixth grade, that's all I got.”  In those days, life was hard for black people, especially in a southern state. “Lord have mercy honey.... We were poor! Every child that lived with a black family had to work. We did everything that poor people had to do.... cookin', sweepin', picked cotton, chopped cotton, and everything else.... whatever we had to do to make a livin' .” In 1928 she married Leonard Owens. Together they had one son before he left in 1929. In 1931 she had a daughter, and in 1933 married Tommy Sims. They were married 52
 years when he died in 1985.

Edna had a hard life, “I was lonely, hungry, and homeless.... And then I got with the Barbee's.” Edna took a job as a cook, housekeeper and nanny for the Barbee family. They had a profound impact on her life. “The Barbee's took me in like I was one of them. They treated me like a human being. I learned all my education from the Barbee's... mmm hmm...they taught me everything I know. I love them white people 'cause they was good to me!” She continued to work, throughout her life, doing whatever was needed to make ends meet. “I even worked for Bonnie and Clyde...the gangsters!.....did some house cleanin' for 'em.....and them suckers didn't even pay me!” Today Edna still lives by herself in her own home, “still raisin' hell!”

Tell me what life was like when you were a little girl.

Ashdown was a little ol' bitty place. Everybody raised cotton...picked cotton... chopped cotton. They'd raise their own garden; they raised their own meats and things. They had slaves. I remember slavery times back down there where I was raised.

They still had slavery when you were a little girl?

Mmm hmm. I went through it. They had slavery down there where I lived. I had an uncle that worked with some of them people, and there was three families of poor people that had never been to town.

They couldn't come to town. They had a homestead, they had a church, and they had a graveyard. And all them black folks stayed on it, and they worked in the fields, and they all wore the same kind of clothes. Children didn't go to school and all that stuff. That was slavery.

Then when the war broke out, the depression started, and that's when a lot of people lost their money and the banks and all that. And that's when they let the black folks be free and go where they wanted to go.

So you're saying those three black families were still owned by someone?

Yeah! That's what I'm talkin' about! They were owned! Everybody! 

 

But I thought slavery ended after the civil war.

No, no. That war didn't mean a thing. They were just like they was before it changed. When I come in the world, it was still the same.... it was harder. Some of the people had owners that was good to 'em, and some owners weren't. They'd beat you to death and all that bit. When I was a girl in Ashdown, you couldn't even walk on the sidewalk. If a white person was coming down that side....you'd best get in the ditch.

So you didn't grow up in slavery, but you had family that did?

Mmm hmm. They didn't get set free 'til I come up here in '31. All them white people, they had horses and cows and all that stuff, and when the banks failed there was a lot of poor folks and poor white folks too. That's when we got more friendly with the white people. It changed 'cause the white people were just like us, tryin' to find 'em a job anywhere.

So you've seen a lot of injustice in your life.

Yeah....I've been there. I've seen things happen that sometimes make me wanna cry. We had a hard life. Black people had a long, hard life when I was coming up. It was terrible. Some of them white people were real cruel to you, some of 'em were nasty. It's the same thing today, some good people and some bad. They was just that'a way.

When the black school got started, two girls come to town, just young teachers, just got out of school themselves. They didn't know nothin' about our town. And one day they was walkin' down the sidewalk and these white girls told 'em to get off the sidewalk and pushed 'em....knocked 'em down. And the police come down there and beat them girls, and they left and never did come back. That's what I lived through. You feared for your life, but yet you had a good life in a way. We had a hard life. We didn't have the freedoms that they got now, and I think if they'd had the freedoms they got now it would've been a better place. It was bad, it was really bad. They just had hate in 'em. There was some mean ones, some mean white ones and some mean black ones..... all races. I think some of that still goes on today, but it's different today than it was then.

I'm gonna tell you something. I hate it, but I'm gonna tell you. When I was a little girl, two white men come and raped my auntie in front of my uncle all night....and he couldn't say a word. They wouldn't do nothing anyway! A lot of that went on back then. They were just mean people, just mean....just mean!

How do you forgive people for things like that?

Well... Say you hate me 'cause your white and I'm black. You don't know any more about me than I know about you, but you might do something to me, or I might do something to you that's hateful, and if you let that linger inside you, it'll eat you up. But if you and I get together and we talk it over, or if you go your way and I go mine, it's over. That's it. Let it go. I've had things happen to me, and I go over it and think about what I'd done and how I'd treated them. Then I'd ask the Lord to forgive me for what I did, and I let it go.

How do you let something like that go?

As long as they didn't put their hands on you or nothing..... it didn't hurt you. I might get mad, and I think about it for a while....then something inside tells me to pray over it and forget it and get on with life. It'll hurt a while, but finally, it'll go away from you. He (pointing upward) won't let it come back to you. He'll stay with you. If you think through it and see what you did wrong and what they did wrong, He'll show you if you're right or not, and that's it. I'm fine, you ain't done nothin' to me. You the one hurtin'; I ain't. I've had people do things to me, and I laugh about it; I don't care. I just go on 'bout my business. That's just how I feel about it. 

Did you go to school?

Back in my day, we didn't have no school like they do now. We didn't have a schoolhouse for colored people in Ashdown 'til 1923. I had an uncle and an auntie that was teachers and they just taught you what they knew at home. Later on, they taught us at the church. My uncle and another lady was teachin' us and that's all the school I had. We got to the sixth grade; that's all I got. I learnt myself, and the Barbee's learnt me. I learned all my education from the Barbee's... mmm hmm...they taught me everything I know. When I come I was lonely, hungry, and homeless. And Ms. Barbee's momma, she hired me and she taught me a lot. I kept house, cooked, cleaned, and looked after all them white children. To them, I wasn't black or white....I was Edna.

So you've got a sixth grade education and you've been poor most all your life.

Mmmm hmmm.

How did you manage your money?

I worked whatever job I needed to, to make ends meet. I even worked for Bonnie and Clyde...the gangsters!.....did some house cleanin' for 'em.....and them suckers didn't even pay me! But I was honest. Didn't nobody have to run me down to pay a bill. If I owe my bills, I pay my bills. Out of all my money, even if I don't have nary a dime left, I'm gonna pay my bills, and I'm gonna be free. If you owe somebody, you're gonna be worried....I don't want to go through that kind of stuff.

I got thru all these hard times by working hard....doing whatever you had to do, and by being honest. That made people trust you, so they would give you credit, or they would help you out, or they would hire you because they trusted you with their children and everything else. I could get a job anytime I wanted one. I never did borrow more than I could pay back. I never was one of these kind that would take my money and go buy something else when I know I owed you. I'm gonna pay you first. I'm gonna pay anybody I owe!

One day I decided I wanted to buy a house, so I went to savin' a little bit at a time. Before you knew it, I'd saved up $650, and I used it on a down payment on this little ol' house. That's how I got a home.

What are you most thankful for?

There's a lot of things....a lot of things. I thank Ms. Barbee. I thank them white people. I love them white people, 'cause they was good to me. They treated me like a human being. I had a good life. The Barbees took me in like I was one of them.

Do you have any regrets?

No I don't guess so, 'cause I always did what I wanted. If I had it in my mind to do it, I did it. If it takes me two or three days or a year, if I had in mind mind to do it, I did it. I stayed by myself, and I did things for myself to please me. I didn't try to please other people. There's no sense in that. But there's a whole lot I wished I didn't do! (laughing).

Like what?

I've been bad, I've been bad. I did sin and I did things that I didn't have no business doin',

So you believe in God?

My life is with God.

What's it like being 100 years old?

Ooh honey....you don't wanna be old! It's hard. You don't ever wanna be old, not this kinda old. I can't do what I want to. When I was 60, I was goin' and doin' whatever I wanted to. I was doin' alright 'til I got 99 years old. I broke down when I got to 99. I was doin' fine! Whenever I wanted to do something I'd just get up and do it, I ain't got time to be sittin' 'round lookin' ugly! Do 'til you can't, and I just did 'til I couldn't anymore.

Do you ever think about dying?

Yeah! (laughing) I was thinking about that today! Lord, “How come I'm still livin'?'' (laughing) I do. I think about dyin'.

Does it scare you?

Uh uh.(no) I'm not scared. When I was younger I was scared of dead people, but when I got older I saw so many people dyin' and I seen how death is and now I just live to die. That's what they tell you, live to die. I hope He comes and gets me and be good to me.

What is your best piece of advice?

Be happy. Love the folks that hate you. Take care of 'em. Be good to 'em.

It's hard for me to understand the kind of hate and discrimination Edna and others had to endure. What's even harder to understand is how Edna not only forgives those people, she loves them! “Love the folks that hate you. Take care of 'em. Be good to 'em.” That almost makes no sense to me. People hate you, look down on you, discriminate against you, abuse you.... and in return.... you love them?

It make no logical sense, but then again, love is not logical. It amazes me that in a self-centered world

of experts, diplomats and scholars, a poor black woman with a sixth grade education is the one who's got it all figured out. Maybe we've got the wrong people running things. God bless you Edna.

Millard Gaddie

Millard Wesley Gaddie was born June 8, 1902 in Campbellsville, Kentucky to Thomas and Cora Gaddie.  “My father was a farmer and my mother raised us kids.” He had a normal upbringing for children of that period, attending school and working on the farm after school and in the summers. When Millard was 13, his father bought a Model T Ford, and packed up everything the they could fit in it and moved the family to Sherman, Texas.  “There weren’t any highways in those days, so we had to use a guidebook and compass to navigate our way on the dirt roads.”  In the evenings they would pull up to an old farmhouse and ask to spend the night in their barn.  “Folks would always welcome us in and feed us dinner.”  The next morning they would wake up, pack up the car, and off  they'd go again.  “It took us 10 days to get there!  Folks sure were a lot nicer back in those days.”

Were you ever married?

“Oh yeah! I was married for a long time....but not all of it to the same woman. My first wife's name was Ruth. She was a good woman and we had three daughters together, Nadine, Mildred and Lavita. We were married for 51 years when she died of a heart attack. That was tough. I really loved her. I never thought I'd get married again, but then I met my second wife. Her name was Leola. She was a good woman too until she died. We were married for 33 years.

So you were married a total of 84 years?

Yep.

What's the secret?

Well, it's not really a secret. You see, when it comes to marriage, the first thing you do is find out that you’re not the boss (laughing). Marriage is a two-way street you see. You have to give and let give. You can’t always have your way all the time. The other person has needs and wants too, you know. You’ve got to respect other people’s rights. That’s what I did. It takes two people getting along to make a marriage work. One person can't make it work all by themselves. It doesn't work like that. It takes two to make it work. If you're selfish all the time and she's selfish all the time, what kind of marriage is that? But if you work to take care of her, and she works to take care of you, then you've got something good. That's what marriage is, two people working to take care of each other. And believe me, it's work! But it's all worth it. My marriages were the best years of my life.

You mentioned that life was tough back then. How did you deal with it?

“Well you see, we went through The Great Depression, and times were hard. I worked as a barber, and we got 35 cents for a haircut, and 20 cents for a shave. Well, when the depression hit, we got down to 15 cents for a shave and 25 cents for a haircut. It was hard to make a living, so I had to go out and get second job. I learned how to hang wallpaper, and lots of people wanted some wallpaper hung in those days. So I'd cut hair all day, then I’d go out at night and hang paper. Then along about the late ‘20s, cured meat come in, you know, home-cured hams and such. I lived in a small town, and so nearly everybody had a cow or a chicken or a hog to kill, you see, so I did that. I cured a lot of meat. I did a lot of things like that. I did whatever I had to do to make ends meet. I had to; I had a family to feed. Later I owned my own barber shop, and that was a lot of work too! It was a lot of work, but you do whatever you've got to do to provide for your family. I never asked the government for anything, and I never owed anyone I didn’t pay, and even today, I don’t have any debts.

So how did you manage your money?

If we didn’t have money to pay for something, then we just didn’t get it. We had to do without a lot of things, but we made it alright. Some people just can’t imagine doing without things. Now days if they want something, they go buy it and they’ll figure out how to pay for it later. Problem is, sometimes they can’t pay for it, and they get into trouble. Have you seen all these people losing their houses here lately? They bought things that they couldn’t afford, and now they’re losing it all. They need to learn how to say no and start saving their money. Sure, there was lot’s of nice things that I would’ve liked to have had, but I didn’t just go out and buy it all. How are these people ever going to retire if they never save any money? You'd better start saving. Believe me, retirement is expensive. And if you're not prepared for it, then how are you ever going to retire? I guess they’re all going to expect the government to take care of them. But sooner or later, they’ll regret it.

“One last question. After 105 years of living, what is the most important thing life?”

You see that picture (pointing to a photo of a young woman in a white dress)? That was my wedding day, and that's my Ruthie. She was so beautiful. It was the happiest day of my life. And you see that one (pointing to another photo)? Those are my three girls. That must have been around 1930. And that one over there (pointing to yet another photo)?

Mr. Gaddie pointed out every photo hanging on the walls and told me a short story about each one. As he rambled, I began to think that he had forgotten my question, but he had a big smile on his face as he talked about the past. Then he said:

You asked me what the most important thing in life is? It's simple. It's the memories you make and the people you love. No one can ever take that away from you.

His words hit me like a sledge hammer. Here I was sitting in a retirement home with this little old man surrounded by his only remaining worldly possessions, a bed, a dresser, a chair, a television and some old photographs. Everything else was gone. The cars, the homes, the businesses, the clothes, the stuff, everything.... all gone. Everything he had worked his entire life for had been whittled down to what would fit into this one room. In the blink of an eye, he showed me how my life had been filled with empty pursuits. His words were sharp and piercing....but true.  In the twilight of his life, he was not reminiscing about cars, or homes, or business success or all the material possessions he had accumulated. He was sharing with me his most valuable assets, his memories about his wife, his family and the people he loved. That's what he treasured. It wasn't the stuff, it was the people and the relationships. Out of all the people I have interviewed, no one has changed me so quickly, so deeply, so profoundly.

 Millard Gaddie died February 10, 2008 at the age of 105, just four months after this interview. It's strange how someone you barely know could have such a lasting impact on your life. In just a couple of hours, Mr. Gaddie showed me that I was living for all the wrong things. How, in the end, a life filled with the relentless pursuit of “stuff” is empty and pointless. He showed me not only how to live, but what to live for. I am forever changed. God bless you Mr. Gaddie, you have certainly blessed me.

Rev. Otis Clark

 Otis Grandville Clark was born February 13, 1903, the son of a former slave.  He grew up on the black side of segregated Tulsa where he went to school and worked as a drugstore delivery boy. In 1921, Otis narrowly escaped harm in the infamous Tulsa race riots. “I got shot at. They killed my step-father; we never found his body. They killed my dog and burned our home down.” The Red Cross estimates that close to 300 were killed and over 10,000 left homeless by the riots.  Shortly after, Otis hopped a train for California where he found work as a movie extra and served as a butler to Hollywood celebrities such as Clark Gable, Charley Chaplain and Joan Crawford.  While serving a jail sentence in Los Angeles for bootlegging whiskey, Otis converted to Christianity which began a 90 year career in ministry.  He served at the well known Azusa Street Mission and became officially ordained as a minister in 1946. “I was about 21 when I married my first wife, Martha. I was married four times... 35 years in all. They all died. I had just one daughter; she died a while back. I never had no grandchildren”

What it was like growing up in a time of so much racial tension.

See we had in our little Tulsa town, we had trouble there, what you might call a little race riot. The whites just run the colored folk out of Tulsa. That was about 1921. I was about 18 and I was living with my grandparents. My father was in Kansas City, Missouri. I remember I went to visit my friend, Jackson, and I was standing behind him when he got shot. I had to run off and leave him; I was just trying to save my own life. They killed my step-father; we never found his body. They killed my dog and burned our home down. I tried to leave after that, but the white folks stopped me on the way out of town and made me get out of the car. They didn't shoot me; they just took my gun. I went to stay with my aunt, and later we heard that the Salvation Army and the Army folks came in and stopped the killing.

I don't know how to ask this, but how did you live in a world where people hated you just because of the color of your skin?

Tulsa was more or less an oil city...really the oil capital of the world at one time..and a lot of colored folks worked for them 'oil' folks and we got along nicely on our side of town, which was the north side, and the whites was on the south side. And to be perfectly honest with you, we got along nicely, up until the Klu Klux Klan and some others got jealous of us coloreds getting along as well as we was. That's when they started the race riots, and they burnt up our part of the city. Lot's of folk were killed.

How did you deal with that? Weren't you angry?

No, see we was young and didn't have sense enough to be angry (laughing). We didn't have that kind of sense. We couldn't do nothing 'bout it anyways. Things was different back then. We just had to run and get out of the way and keep from getting killed.

Looking back, how can you forgive those folks for what they did?

I don't think we should look back. All we can do is just forgive one another and try to straighten up whatever wrongs we have. I ain't perfect; I've messed up too, you know, and folks have forgiven me. That's what we've got to do, learn to forgive one another.

So what did you do after that?

My grandmother got a letter from my father that said he done gone to California. So me and my friend hopped on a train to Los Angeles and found my father was working for the movie folks. And that's how I got started with the movie folks. I started working for Joan Crawford and got acquainted with all the movie folks. I worked as a butler for Clark Gable, Charlie Chaplin too. They was what I called the sportin' folks. They was big time into dancin' and having fun, and I was pretty popular with 'em 'cause I was a whiskey maker....a moonshiner you see. That was back during Prohibition and I'd supply 'em with whiskey for all their parties. Some of them parties was $7000; they was big timers. Joan Crawford was what you might call one of the leading stars back then and she had a theater behind her home, and Clark Gable and Charlie Chaplin would come to her home for movies and parties and such. So I was working for the folks that had something, and so I got along nicely. The movie folks treated me real good. I worked there until I finally got converted.

What do you mean by “converted”?

I got arrested and put in jail for makin' moonshine whiskey. That was a dangerous deal. Back in the prohibition days, they'd give folks five and six years for a makin' a little whiskey, but the judge had mercy on me and gave me only 20 days in jail. On Saturdays the Salvation Army folks would come out and some of these white preachers would preach and sing to us prisoners. The first Saturday I didn't pay no mind cause I was looking for my gang, but my gang didn't show up! The next Saturday, the Salvation Army folks came out, and they preached and they sang, and I made up my mind that I'd get on God's side. I got converted in jail in Los Angeles. I was in my twenties..that was my first opportunity of actually hearing folks talk about God. I found out He's the boss of this whole thing.

So how do you get on God's side?

Repent. You have to repent for the wrongs you've done and be converted. That's what we call it in the Baptist Church. Repent and be converted and change from wrong to right. Quit your wrongs; quit your sins and get on God's side, and live right. But we Baptist folks allowed you to drink a little, we didn't make it too serious for you. You could do a little wrong and repent and it would be alright and so a lot of us followed that line.... that you were on God's side if you just belonged to a church. But I found out later that ain't right. See, the Devil comes along some how or another and makes us feel like it's alright to do wrong and a little wrong won't hurt us. And to tell the truth about it, we follow that line of the Devil more than the line of God. And I did that myself a long time; I followed the folks that thought it was alright to do a little wrong. But see, God's Bible tells us to repent and believe... “He that believes and is baptized shall be saved.” But you got to believe. See, we was baptized, but didn't believe. In other words, we did as we pleased in the Baptist church. But God has a written word which is the Bible and you got to go by it. See, we had the Bible and didn't go by it in the Baptist church. They would think you was crazy if you talked about being saved and sanctified. I learned that you got to believe and repent and follow God's word. We would talk it, but we didn't live it. Nobody really talked about living no sanctified life. But you got to really do it to be saved. I found that out after God really baptized me for real when I was in jail. That changed my life. It stopped me from doing the things I used to do. I tried to come back and tell the folks in the Baptist church about it and they thought I was crazy.

So how did you go about becoming a preacher?

I got with the leadin' folks of the Azusa Street Church down there in Los Angeles. They talked about baptism in the Holy Ghost, and I made up my mind that was the right way to go, and the Lord called me to go and tell other people. See, the Devil puts it in folks to cuss, tell lies, cheat and steal. He tells us it's alright to have a little of that and have a little bit of God. The whole world practices that. But God is pleading with us all the time to come to him. “Come to me the heavy laden and I will give you rest.” But in the world you can do as you please and you can say your holy and sanctified but you're really not. You have to love God more than you love the world. But the Devil has a lot of power in this world.

Do you think God directs our way through life?

In a way He does, but in another way He lets us have our own way. He tries to tell us what's right, but He leaves us to do whatever we want to do. We can follow right if we want to, or we can follow wrong, but He encourages us to do right. I did that myself a long time. I followed the folks that thought it was alright to do a little wrong. See the Devil comes along and makes us feel that a little wrong won't hurt us. But those 20 days in jail changed my whole life when them little Salvation Army folks came and told me about gettin' on the right side of God. See, God can even take the bad things in your life and turn 'em around into good.

Tell me how you've managed to live such a long, healthy and productive life.

That just slips up on ya! (laughing) I don't know why I'm living so long. I think it's because God wants me to tell the younger folk about being on His side. God is the one able to make you healthy and wealthy but the Devil tries to steal it from you and makes it hard for you. You gotta learn to stand firm. Wealth in God's way of thinking is more than money, it's good health, the ability to do what you want to do, to be physically wealthy.....and mentally wealthy..... able to think right and do right. Think right. God wants you to think on the good things.

You've got over 100 years of life experience. (Yeah). How can I make the most out of my life?

Live Holy. Holiness is righteousness in the heart, not just in the head. It's right to do right. “And none but the righteous shall see God.” If the Lord gets in your heart, you gonna do right because God is right. You can't help it; it becomes a part of you. Love others. Love is a great attribute. God wants us to love one another. You are God's child and He wants you to have what He has for you. Love is a mystery that the Devil hides even from the church. The Devil has cheated us out of the real love. The real love of God would make you treat one another right at any time, in any kind of condition. God is love, and we're supposed to show the love of God to others. Think right, live right and do right.......and love.

Otis Clark certainly made the most out of his life. As he sat in my living room during this interview, he filled our home and lives, no only with incredible stories and wisdom, but with love and life. This man was full of life, and he was contagious, spreading it into every life he touched. At ages 103 and 104, Otis traveled twice on mission trips to Zimbabwe, Africa. After this interview, Otis was leaving immediately, traveling to San Antonio to preach.....at 105 years old. At age 107 he traveled to the West Indies to change lives and at age 109 he went to Canada to continue spreading the Word. And, at the time of his death on May 21, 2013, at the age of 109, Otis Clark was planning a trip to preach the gospel in the country of Nigeria. Now that is optimism.

Otis' life has been the subject of numerous newspaper and magazine articles and TV interviews. He even has his own Wikipedia page. Below are a some links to a couple of these interviews. They are well worth viewing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZ2380UTX4A

http://voicesofoklahoma.com/otis_clark.html

Of all the interviews I have done, no one has been more full of life and love than Otis Clark. I am humbled to have sat at his feet and learned.

 

Otis Clark, 108