James Monroe OVERBY

OVERBY, SUTTON, PETTY, SIDES, KIGHT, GREEN, LANGLEY, COOPER, SANDER, PRESTON

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 4/21/2015 at 18:48:40

July 2, 1930 --- April 12, 2015

James “Jim” Monroe Overby, 84, of Bernie passed away Sunday, April 12, 2015, at Saxony Lutheran Village in Cape Girardeau, Mo., with his family at his side. He was born July 2, 1930, in Eagle Grove, Iowa, the son of the Rev. James M. and Minnie Belle Sutton Overby. He and Joyce Petty were married May 6, 1952, in Cape Girardeau, Mo., by the Rev. Overby at Maple Avenue Methodist Church. As the son of a Methodist minister, Jim grew up living in a number of communities, including What Cheer, Iowa; Fort Branch, Francisco and Winslow, Ind.; Henderson, Ky.; Ava, Van Buren, Cabool and Cape Girardeau, Mo. During his elementary school years, he attended schools in five different communities. He was a graduate of Cabool High School and attended Southeast Missouri State Teachers College where he met his beloved wife in Dr. A. C. Magill’s chemistry class where students were seated alphabetically (Overby-Petty). He joined the U.S. Air Force in 1950 during the Korean Conflict, and was honorably discharged in 1954. For the most of his tour of duty, he served at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas, Nev., where he was a flight mechanic.

Jim worked in sales and finance management in the automobile and insurance industry for many years, including more than 15 years at Rowe Ford Sales in Malden, Mo. He was a member of the Bernie United Methodist Church, where he sang in the choir for more than 60 years, served in a variety of leadership roles and on numerous other church committees at the local and regional level. For many years, he was a volunteer in Bernie with the Meals on Wheels program. He was a member of the American Legion in Malden. He loved sports and actively supported the Bernie High School Mules and the University of Missouri Tigers. He served for 25 years as the official time keeper for Bernie basketball, and seldom missed any athletic, music, or cultural events where any one of his four daughters or grandchildren were participating. His greatest joy in life was spending time with his family and he also enjoyed traveling and in his latter years visited Germany, Switzerland and Austria, Hawaii, the New England states, and he visited the presidential libraries for Presidents Eisenhower, Johnson, Clinton, Truman and Kennedy.

Loving survivors include his wife of almost 63 years; four daughters and their spouses, Diane Sides of Jackson, Cathy and Scott Kight of Jackson; Karen Green and Glenn Green of St. Louis; and, Lisa and Terry Langley of Springfield, Mo.; nine grandchildren and five great grandchildren: Laura Sides (Matt) Cooper and son Bennett, of Ballwin, Mo.; Ryan (Jennifer) Sides of Mehlville, Mo.; Travis (Jamie) Green and son Tyler of Benton, Mo.; Erik (Jennie) Green of Fenton, Mo., Drew Green and son Jayden of Fenton, Mo.; Erica Kight (Dave) Sander and children Emily and Kyle of Jackson, Mo.; Chad Kight of Cape Girardeau; and Olivia and Caroline Langley of Springfield, Mo. He was preceded in death by a grandson, Vincent Kight; two brothers, John Vernon “Pete” and Tom Overby; and three sisters, Eunice Catherine Overby, Margaret Emily Overby and Mary Martha Overby Preston.

Friends may call from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 15, 2015 at the Bernie United Methodist Church. The funeral is scheduled for Thursday, April 16, 2015 at 11:30 a.m. at the Bernie United Methodist Church, with the Reverends Susan Marner-Sides and Ron Dunnavin officiating. Interment will follow in the Missouri Veterans Cemetery in Bloomfield with full military honors. Arrangements are being handled by the Rainey-Mathis Funeral Home in Bernie, Missouri. Memorials may be made to the Bernie United Methodist Church, the Joyce Petty Overby Scholarship Fund at Bernie High School, the Alzheimers Foundation, or the James M. and Joyce Petty Overby Family Scholarship at the Southeast Missouri University Foundation.

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