John Kirkwood Overbey

John Kirkwood Overbey

John K. Overbey, 85, died of an old heart Monday at his home in Austin, Texas, where his large family soon gathered. Born in 1920, he got his first taste of the oil business as a young boy in Wichita Falls where his uncles were roustabouts in the Burkburnett Oil Field. His mother was a school teacher and his father was the county surveyor until the depression hit. The family moved to Houston where his father found a job surveying the Humble Oil Field. In high school he helped his dad "run the chain" on surveying jobs through the piney woods.

John attended the University of Texas, graduating with a law degree in 1942. Before the ink was dry on his Bar Exam, he was off to enlist in the Marines, finding out that he had passed while he was at boot camp in San Diego. Color blindness nearly kept him out of the service, but after several attempts at various enlistment offices he memorized the chart. After boot camp, he was stationed in New Zealand. His unit was preparing for the Tarawa Beach landing when he was selected for officer's school and headed back to Quantico, Virginia. When he returned to the South Pacific, he commanded a battery of anti-aircraft guns on the Battleship Massachusetts. His Marine contingent occupied the Yokosuka Naval Base in Tokyo harbor immediately after the Japanese surrendered. He remained in the reserves for 11 years after the war, attaining the rank of Captain.

John settled in Midland as a landman for Standard of Texas for two years before going independent in 1949. George H.W. Bush moved in across the street from John on the legendary "Easter Egg Row" of brightly painted new homes in Midland and they struck up a life-long friendship. Two years later, with John's field experience and Bush's financial contacts, they formed the Bush Overbey Oil Development Company. They were partners for several years until they joined Hugh and Bill Liedtke to form Zapata Petroleum in 1953. Zapata later evolved into Pennzoil. Preferring the simpler life, he left the corporate world of Zapata to continue as an independent oil operator, teaming with Baylor Van Meter for 25 years.

In 1970, John and Van Meter formed Forty-Nine North and moved to Anchorage with their families to participate in the Alaskan oil boom. John served on the Board of Wein Air Alaska? an airline that was owned and controlled by former "bush" pilots. As Chairman of the Board of Alaska Pacific University, he guided that institution through a major reorganization in 1977.

John's heart brought him back to Austin in 1981 after triple by-pass surgery. Back in Texas he enjoyed the antics of his large family, being with his wife "my lovely Susan," going to the office with Kirk and Kathy, and taking every opportunity to go fly fishing. John eagerly anticipated lunch each month with the unofficial "Old Men's Club" comprised of World War II veterans and all their stories.

He is survived by his first wife Lorna Overbey, his wife Susan Overbey, his children and step-children Kirk Overbey, Kathy Overbey, Susie Locker, Sally Robb, Daniel Gifford, Charlie Gifford, O'Shea Gifford, and Dorothy Overbey, and 17 grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his grandson, John William Overbey.

The recitation of the Rosary will be on Friday, March 3rd, at 8:15 p.m. after the Stations of the Cross at St. Mary's Cathedral at 10th and Brazos in downtown Austin. The funeral Mass will be celebrated by Father Bud Roland and Father Robert Bradley, S.J., at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 4th, also at St. Mary's Cathedral. Parking is available in the Commodore 2 Plaza garage entering from San Jacinto Blvd. The Rite of Christian Burial will take place afterwards at Capital Parks Cemetery, 14501 N. IH-35, in Pflugerville, TX, with a reception following at the Overbey home.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Saint Mary's Cathedral; to the Veterans of Foreign Wars 8925, 8706 FM 812, Austin, TX, 78719; or to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, 1 Intrepid Square, W. 46th at 12th Avenue, NY, NY, 10036, (800)340-HERO, which serves military personnel who have been catastrophically disabled in Iraq and Afghanistan and in other operations.

Arrangements by Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral Home, 3125 N. Lamar Blvd., Austin, Texas 78705 (512) 452-8811. Obituary and guestbook on line at wcfish.com