“I believe he is the longest consecutive donor, and I believe he’s probably the top whole blood donor in the country,” said Jan Hale, communications manager for blood services’ Southwest Region in Tulsa.

“But that’s not really important to him. Darwin just does it because he says it’s the right thing to do.”

When a retired St. Louis railroad inspector was reported in September to be the record-holder, Hale says she asked Eaton offhandedly if he had any documentation of his donations. Two days later, he showed up with a stack of donor cards dating back to February 1949.

She was shocked.

“I guess what just stuns me is he has done something for 60 years so regularly,” Hale said. “What I also realized is that he has been donating 18 months longer than the Guinness Book of World Records holder.”

Hale is working to set the record straight with the Guinness folks. For the most part, Eaton has given a pint of whole blood every 56 days for 60 years, she said.

When asked about his donations, he deadpanned, “It’s the only place I know where you get rewarded for lying down on the job.”

His tiny wife, Georgia Eaton, said she would have given blood throughout the years, too, but has never weighed enough. Donors must weigh at least 110 pounds.

When Eaton first started giving in 1949, they made him lie still on a stretcher as the blood flowed through a tube into glass jars on the floor.

Harry S. Truman was president of the United States. The New York Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in the World Series. “South Pacific” opened on Broadway that year. And Eaton and his wife had been married for five years.

“Considering my wife’s father gave us six months to last, we’re doing pretty good,” he quipped.

Eaton got started giving blood when he was credit manager for Warren Petroleum.

“Mr. Warren sent a memo out to all the employees. He said he would give us time off and transportation if we needed it to go give blood,” he said.

After a while, Eaton got into a rhythm of giving every 56 days like clockwork.

“A pint weighs a pound, and I’ve lost 328 pounds and you can’t even tell it,” he said.

A former Army Air Force pilot and instructor during World War II, Eaton is known as “Darlin’ Darwin” by nurses at the Red Cross, said Clara Holderman, a Red Cross nurse for nearly 39 years.

“And he’s always an easy stick,” said Anne Blair, a Red Cross phlebotomist for 20 years.

The Eatons are diehard University of Oklahoma football fans and until recently were season-ticket holders. After attending the calamity that was the Boise State win over OU in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl of 2007, Eaton caught a cold and couldn’t give blood right on time.

Given his stick-to-it nature, that was hard for him, Hale said.

“Just trying to get him to give today instead of Thursday was hard, because last Thursday was Day 56,” she said earlier this week. “We just want him to know how amazingly grateful we are to him.”

The Red Cross’ Tulsa Chapter had a rare 41st-gallon pin flown in overnight from St. Louis. Apparently, it was the one meant for the record-holder, who is unable to give blood now due to a chronic illness, Hale said.

Eaton wants people to know they don’t have to give 41 gallons to make a difference. His daughter has given five gallons.

“The first donation is just as important as Darwin’s 41st gallon,” Hale said.