December 30, 1931 – July 4, 2024 • August 17, 1931 – July 21, 2024
MANTEO — Virginia Louis (“Lou”) Newsome Overman and William Jackson (“Jack”) Overman, Jr. passed away in July at their home in Manteo, North Carolina; Lou on July 4, 2024, and Jack on July 21, 2024, after 69 years of marriage.
Lou was born on December 30, 1931, in Ahoskie, North Carolina, the daughter of the late Graham Newsome and Margaret Virginia (Jeter) Newsome. She attended Ahoskie High School and, after one year at a private women’s college, transferred in 1951 to Wake Forest University. Jack was born in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, on August 17, 1931, the older son of the late William Jackson (“Ham”) Overman and Eunice (Goodwin) Overman. After graduating from Elizabeth City High School, Jack went to Wake Forest also, arriving a year before Lou.
Lou later wrote that she was glad she and Jack matriculated at the “grand old magnolia campus” in Wake Forest, North Carolina, before the school relocated to Winston-Salem. They both played the saxophone and met when Lou joined the Spirit of the Old Gold and Black Marching Band, where Jack was already a member. Lou was active in a myriad of school organizations, including the Old Gold and Black Newspaper, the Philomathesian Literary Society, Wake Radio, and the engraving staff of the The Howler yearbook. She was selected into the Tassels Society (a school honorary society), Beta Beta Beta biological sciences society, National Mortar Board, and Phi Beta Kappa.
Although they were both slated to graduate in 1953, Jack’s graduation was delayed until 1954, thanks to his difficulties with the mandatory foreign language classes. He told his son Graham that he took Spanish I, Spanish I, Spanish II, Spanish II, Spanish III and Spanish III, failing each class and retaking it the following semester, until he ran out of semesters and had to take a 1954 summer school class.
Lou and Jack shared many college classes. They had a whirlwind courtship, as Lou described: “I argued with my future husband in class after class, and AFTER graduating we dated three times, got engaged, and met at the altar when he came home on leave from Naval Flight training.” They married in 1955.
Jack embarked on a 20 year active duty Navy career, with Lou and their sons, born in 1957 and 1958, following him to his many duty stations. He entered the Navy when it was on the cusp of changing its maritime patrol (anti-submarine/anti-shipping/reconnaissance) aircraft. Jack first flew Navy “K-class” blimps in ZP-1 K (“Z” stands for lighter-than-air, not zeppelin). He then transitioned to the P5M Martin Marlin seaplane, which he flew both as a pilot and subsequently as a flight instructor. His last assignment as a pilot was to VP-47, in 1964 – 1967, where his crew was the first in the Navy to achieve “Alpha” status when the squadron transitioned to the P-3A Orion four-engine turboprop aircraft. (20 years later, Jack’s son Graham was a Naval Flight Officer (NFO) flying in an updated version of these workhorse planes, which also have served NOAA for decades as “hurricane hunters,” flying into hurricanes to chart their speed and strength.)
Jack served two tours in Vietnam, aboard the Essex-class carrier USS Ticonderoga, as the Assistant Combat Information Center Officer. He then had a tour as the base Admin. Officer at Naval Station Dam Neck, Virginia. From 1970 to 1972, Jack was the Commanding Officer (CO) of Naval Air Facility (NAVFAC), Eleuthera, in the Bahamas. His final tour before retirement was with Naval Electronic Systems Command, in Crystal City, VA, where Jack was responsible for all the Navy’s oceanic cable-laying ships. This tour, and as CO at NAVFAC Eleuthera, involved the then classified Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS) for tracking Soviet-era submarines.
Meanwhile, Lou worked as a medical laboratory technician in the 1960s. (Her ambition was to be a physician, but she could not find a medical school that would admit women at that time.) She also turned the skills she had acquired at Wake Forest as an engraver and archivist to genealogical research of both the Newsome and Overman families. Genealogy became a life-long pursuit. Through it, Lou proved her eligibility for and joined the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Jamestowne Society, the National Society of Colonial Dames of America, the National Society of Daughters of 1812, the National Society of Magna Carta Dames, and the Huguenot Society of the Founders of Manakin in the Colony of Virginia. She also made time to be the Cub Scout Den Leader for her sons’ Scout Den and strongly supported both sons to achieve their goal of making the Boy Scout Eagle rank.
Jack retired from the Navy in 1975, and took a management position with Peterbilt Motors Company near Nashville, Tennessee and then in San Francisco, California. After retiring from Peterbilt he subsequently worked for two other smaller firms involved with the automotive industry, one in Hendersonville, Tennessee, and the other in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
While in Tennessee, Jack was heavily involved in Boy Scouts and served many District and Council level positions. He was granted the coveted Wood Badge leadership qualification, elected to the Order of the Arrow Scouting honor association, and awarded the Long Rifle Award by his local Scouting District.
After finally fully retiring Jack and Lou moved to Manteo, North Carolina in 1992. Over a nearly 40 year span, they had moved 27 times! Lou commented in a letter to Wake Forest’s alumni office that their “furniture had traveled more than most people!” And they loved all the places they lived in, with the possible exception, being true Southerners, of very cold and wintry northern Michigan.
After finally settling in a permanent home, Lou and Jack lost no time in becoming active members of their new community.
Jack was involved with the local Boy Scout Troop; crewed occasionally on the reproduction historic sailing ship Elizabeth II; was a member of the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE), mentoring small business owners; founded an Outer Banks chapter of the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA), and then went on to be the President of the entire North Carolina division of MOAA. Jack joined the First Flight Society; was a member of the Dare County Airport commission; was on the planning committee for the huge 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers’ flight, in 2013 (which President George W. Bush attended!). He also was an active member of the tongue-in-cheek organization known as the Man Will Never Fly Society, a social club with many retired aviator members, whose slogan was “Birds Fly, Men Drink.”
They joined St Andrews-By-the-Sea Episcopal Church in Nags Head, where Lou served as a member of the Altar Guild and Jack was an usher. There was no local DAR chapter, so Lou and several friends founded the Dare County DAR chapter, and she subsequently served as librarian, chaplain, registrar, and first vice-regent. She also continued her genealogy research. The family plans to summarize her research and then donate her papers to a genealogical library, where they can be cataloged and used by future historians. Lou was a member of the Manteo Garden Club, where she served in several officer positions, and a volunteer member of the Elizabethan Gardens of Manteo.
Lou dedicated years of volunteer time as a document preservation expert at the Outer Banks Historical center. She did the same work earlier in Hendersonville, Tennessee, for which she was awarded a commendation from the Tennessee State Archivist for her work in conserving hundreds of historic documents, and teaching conservation techniques.
Jack was a gifted woodworker, who made many beautiful and useful items in his basement workshop, several of which are in use at St. Andrew by the Sea.
Lou and Jack were lifelong supporters of Wake Forest University and Lou served twice on the school’s Alumni Council. They encouraged and assisted many local students to apply to the university.
Lou and Jack are survived by their sons, William Jackson “Graham” Overman III (Georjan Darnell), and Benjamin Jeter Newsome Overman; grandsons Alex Overman (Beth Babcock), Morgan Overman, Ben Elliot Overman, and Kyle Overman; and great-grandson Orion Overman. Jack also survived by his brother Pete Overman (Grace).
There will be a memorial service on Saturday, September 14, 2024, at 11:00 a.m., at St. Andrews-By-the-Sea Episcopal Church, 4212 South Virginia Dare Trail, Nags Head, NC, 27959. A reception at the church’s Fellowship Hall will immediately follow the service.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations be made to St. Andrews-By-the-Sea Episcopal Church (PO Box 445, Nags Head, NC 27959 or online at saintandrewsobx.com).
Twiford Funeral Homes, Outer Banks is assisting the family with arrangements. Condolences and memories may be shared at www.TwifordFH.com.
