News We Love: Meet a 100-year-old, pool-playing veteran and the man preserving his story

PELHAM, Ala. —

Most people walk into Pappa G’s Pool Hall in Pelham, Alabama, hoping to leave a winner.

At 100 years old, Edward “Ed” Gill already has.

“I feel 60, if I was picking an age,” Gill said

Gill, a World War II veteran who spends six, and sometimes seven, nights a week at the pool hall, recently found himself behind the camera. Photographer Jeff Rease traveled to Alabama to add Gill to his growing collection of portraits honoring America’s dwindling generation of World War II veterans.

For Rease, the photograph was one more stop in a seven-year mission to preserve stories before they disappear.

“The oldest one I met was 107,” Rease said.

What began in 2019 with a portrait of Col. Carl Cooper quickly became something much bigger. Rease launched “Portraits of Honor,” a project dedicated to documenting the lives of World War II veterans across the country.

“He didn’t convince me that I needed to do this,” Rease said of Cooper. “But I knew that I wanted to photograph as many World War II veterans as I could while I could.”

Nearly 400 portraits later, Rease says the conversations have become just as important as the photographs.

“Then I’ll end up spending two hours talking and hearing 95 or 100 years of life history,” he said.

Gill’s story stretches from an Alabama farm to the skies over World War II. He served in the Navy as an aviation radioman, flying aboard dive bombers and patrol bombers before later building a career as an air traffic controller.

But these days, much of his time is spent around pool tables.

“I didn’t go to bed until 12 (last night), Gill said.

His love for the game spans decades, though it was interrupted for much of his adult life.

“My wife said, ‘You don’t need to be at the pool hall,’” Gill said with a laugh. “So I quit shooting for 60 years.”

Gill and his wife were married for 67 years after meeting as teenagers.

“Our first date was on her 17th birthday,” he said. “Two months to the day, we were married.”

After her death in 2013, Gill’s daughter encouraged him to return to the game he once loved.

“I beat her a couple of times,” Gill said, jokingly. “The next day, I found out I was on her team. She snatched me right away.”

Gill’s routine now includes late nights, pool tournaments and an unconventional diet.

“Cookies and a Coke,” he said. “And one banana to balance it out.”

Whatever the formula, it appears to be working.

Rease estimates that only about 30,000 World War II veterans remain alive in the United States. When he began photographing them seven years ago, he said there were more than 300,000.

“I think probably 90 to 95% of those photographs have already passed away,” Rease said.

For Gill, dwelling on the passage of time has never been part of the plan.

“I don’t let anything dwell,” he said.

When asked what he hopes people see when they look at his portrait years from now, Gill offered a simple answer.

“That I did something right,” he said.

Gill, who said he is the oldest player ever to compete in the World Pool Championship in Las Vegas, credits his longevity to his faith and his outlook on life.

“I’m not going to be here that long,” he said with a smile. “I plan to be. I’ve outlived four generations already.”

For Rease, each portrait preserves more than military service. It captures a life still being lived.

And on this day, one man arrived to line up a shot while the other came to take one. In the end, both were aiming at the same thing: a life worth remembering.

To see more of Rease’s “Portraits of Honor” project, visit PortraitsOfHonor.us.