Monroe, LA — Otha Anders, a 73-year old man, who started saving pennies more than 45 years ago, recently cashed in more than 500,000 pennies he had stored in 15 five gallon plastic water jugs. That amounts to exactly $5,136.14.Anders comments, “I became convinced that spotting a lost or dropped penny was an additional God-given incentive reminding me to always be thankful. There have been days where I failed to pray and more often than not, a lost or dropped penny would show up to remind me.”
He added, “If I was at someone’s house and I found a penny, I would pick it up and I would keep it. I will always tell the person that if it was a quarter, I would give it back, but since it is a penny, I’m keeping it.”
He cashed in his enormous coin collection at the Ruston Origin Bank, in Ruston, Louisiana.
Jennie Cole, vice president of the bank, admitted that it was not a typical day at the bank when Anders brought his collection of pennies in on a dolly. But she says Anders is a valued customer, and they wanted to help him with the transaction.
Cole commented, “We value his business, as we do all of our customers. But if we can help Anders with his endeavors, we are happy to do so.”
Fortunately, they had a machine that counts coins to save time.