Wait staff at Laurel Crest Retirement Village ushers Rev. Dermont Swicegood into the restaurant for a celebration of his 100th birthday. The restaurant is nestled into a woodsy cove near the banks of a river where everything is lush and green, and the landscape is picture perfect and in full bloom. All the patrons are dressed in their very best evening clothes and ushered to their tables by a wait staff in white gloves and dinner jackets with tails.

The menu includes Portobello mushrooms, seared scallops and steamed mussels, a variety of salads, salmon chowder, and tournedos de beef chasseur.

Are you thinking you might be some place in Europe or at a secluded eatery along the coast or on a mountainside?

Think again. This is Laurel Crest Retirement Village on the Congaree River in West Columbia.

The riverfront community was celebrating its 16th anniversary on August 25 with a formal dinner for all of its residents. One resident in particular was in the mood to really celebrate because August 29 would be his 100th birthday. Coincidently, it was 16 years ago on the same day that Laurel Crest opened its doors so the celebration was two–fold.

“I’m lucky that I live in such a beautiful place,” retired Reverend Dermont Swicegood said. “It’s so pretty here, and the people are all so nice.”

The minister had not only made his landmark birthday, but he had the distinction of being the only resident of Laurel Crest who made it to NBC’s Today Show for Willard Scott’s centurion birthday list sponsored by Smucker’s jams and jellies.

The pastor’s birthday fell on a Sunday, and he celebrated at St. David’s Lutheran Church in West Columbia by listening to his son preach and by being surrounded by family and friends.

“It’s been a very good birthday for me,” the sprightly minister said as he waited to be seated at his table for the anniversary bash. “I have been celebrating all week with all of my family, friends, and neighbors. I have gotten 200 birthday cards! Can you believe that?”

Mary Bryan, director and CEO of Laurel Crest said it was no surprise to her that Swicegood was remembered by so many people.

“He’s just full of life,” Bryan said. “He sings and plays the ukulele, and from the time he got Swicegood was the tenth child of 13 brothers and sisters. He was born on a farm in Lexington, North Carolina, in 1910, and he said he and his brothers and sisters never fought or argued.

“We all got along with each other,” he remembered. “My oldest sister was 18 when I was born so there was an age difference, but we were all good to each other. We had good parents too. A sweet mama and daddy, but daddy was strict. He was fair, but he was strict.”

He laughed when he was asked if his father was a minister.

“No, he didn’t have time,” Swicegood said. “With 13 of us and a farm to run, he stayed busy. He was a farmer and a carpenter. But then, Jesus was a carpenter too, wasn’t He? So maybe daddy did have a little preacher in him.”

The Swicegood clan grew cotton and peaches and tobacco on their farm, the minister said. He felt that he had been called to preach so he left the farm and studied the ministry. After becoming ordained and ministering to three churches in North Carolina, he came to Mt. Tabor Lutheran Church in West Columbia in 1951 and has been in the area since.

“All through my ministry I’ve tried to grow churches,” the pastor said. “I believe that’s what the good Lord wants us to do, and that’s what I’ve tried to do.

On July 20, 1969, Swicegood became Pastor of Pisgah Lutheran Church, and under his leadership plans for a new church were presented to the congregation in June of 1970. Ground–breaking for the new sanctuary was conducted on Sunday, October 4, 1970. Two weeks later, construction began, and the dedication was on Sunday, November 21, 1971.

In January, 1972, the parsonage was sold, since Pastor Swicegood owned his own home. With this sale and other monies raised, the church was officially debt free in March of 1972. A gymnasium was completed to add space for basketball and other youth activities to occur. Pastor Swicegood retired from Pisgah in December 1979.

He now attends St. David’s Lutheran Church. He and his wife Eleoise were married 55 years before her death, and they had four children: two boys and two girls. One daughter passed away last year. Swicegood has six grandchildren and five great–grandchildren.

He said he enjoys singing and will check the monthly calendar at Laurel Crest for the residents’ birthdays and then call them up and sing to them.

“I don’t tell them that it’s me singing, but I’ve been doing it so long I think they know,” he laughed.

He gets serious when he’s asked to what he attributes his longevity.

“I really don’t know,” he said. “I’ve outlived all my brothers and sisters and buried my wife and a daughter. I guess God just isn’t finished with me yet. I guess I can still do some good here so He lets me stay.”