Amelia tobacco farmer, former gospel singer Patrick Venable dies at 107

(Times Dispatch) ... Nevertheless, he and his wife were able to settle on 7 acres of their own and he raised and cured tobacco. He also used it, defying medical probabilities by regularly smoking a pipe and occasionally lighting up a cigar or tucking a chaw in his cheek.
His son-in-law, Mxolisi T. Sowell of Amelia, said Mr. Venable amazed his doctors on his rare visits with his healthy heart and ideal blood pressure. "They would ask him, 'What are you doing, Mr. Venable? We need to bottle it, whatever it is.' And he would tell them that one thing he did was stay away from doctors." Continued