Mary Jane Overeem

Mary Jane Overeem (November 1937 – June 2025)
Between riding with her siblings to a one-room schoolhouse in a horse and buggy and educating the children in her own modern classroom (and beyond), Mary Jane Overeem (nee Volker) saw it all in her life. Along the way, she enjoyed a sturdy, stable, and satisfying 60-year marriage to her late husband Ron and raised two sons, Phil and Brian, who did not grow up to make her regret having done so. She was an amazing cook, a crafty crafter, a super surrogate grandma and great grandma-and a woman who truly gave all.
Mary Jane was the fifth of nine children born to Roy ("Cotton") and Velma Volker, and the last to be born in the same Zenith, Kansas, farmhouse her father was. Farming is the life for many, but Mary Jane left as soon as she could to become a student at Pittsburg State University, where she met her future husband (after dating his roommate). Ron convinced her to abandon her education and follow him down the road to matrimony, on which they embarked in 1959. They made their home in Carthage, Missouri, where their sons Phil and Brian grew up.
During the 1960s and 1970s, Mary Jane refined her synthesis of June Cleaver (efficiency and orderliness while being-and staying-perfectly put together) and Martha Stewart (inventive homemaking and transcendent cooking), while relentlessly proving a skilled seamstress. As well as achieving all that, she also read regularly to her children and encouraged them to read, fed them as if they were princes (though never quite making enough mashed potatoes for both boys and King Dad), and concealed from them through sheer will the fact that they were simply a working-class family. She also substitute-taught; the days she took jobs in her oldest son's classes were the only ones during which he remained mute and obedient (he himself would later become a teacher). Of lasting importance was the network of friends she joined that would enrich all their lives for the rest of her years.
She returned to college in the late 1970s and graduated with a teaching degree from what is now Missouri Southern State University. Two of her aunts and her own grandmother had been educators, so she carried on a family tradition. When the Overeem family moved to Monett, Missouri, in 1980, Mary Jane established herself as a hard-nosed elementary teacher who was nonetheless beloved. In her later years, she was often spotted and enthused over in Wal-Marts and other businesses by former students who had clawed their way to adulthood. Mary Jane never missed her youngest son's many sporting events, tried to ride herd on his gang, and delivered another youth to college (and later, business and city management success). In addition, she survived thyroid cancer, became a mover and shaker in the Presbyterian Church, and grew into a loving honorary matriarch to her chosen and beloved family, the Carlins, when they lost their own, a great friend of Mary Jane's, far too early.
After retiring from teaching, Mary Jane and Ron lived a life of serving their community and visiting and traveling with their wide-reaching family-and-friend network. She stayed closely connected to her eight siblings, provided love and care to her surrogate grandchildren and great-grandchildren, insured that her husband always had another project after finishing the one he was working on (we know about idle hands), and enjoyed visits to and from "her boys." Their long marriage was a model not only for their sons but everyone in their orbit-especially in terms of solidity and reciprocal good humor. Never to be forgotten were Christmases and Thanksgivings that Mary Jane always made very special occasions, whether she was hosting or visiting her families, and the long-time annual summer family-and-friend float trips that she and her sisters and friends cooked for and tried to keep from unfolding into chaos.
The loss of her husband and the challenge of illness provided Mary Jane more obstacles in her final years, but she became a respected and beloved member of Monett's Oak Pointe
Senior Living community, which provided her consistent care and occasionally foiled the reckless vehicular schemes she dreamed up with her dear friends Rita and Carleen. The love and attention that Oak Pointe provided at the end of her life will not be forgotten.
Mary Jane Overeem is survived by her oldest son Phillip and his wife Nicole; her youngest son Brian and his wife Myra; her younger brother Merryl and his wife Peggy; her younger sisters Trish (James) Scates, Nancy (William) Murphy, and Jan (Larry) West; a legion of nephews, nieces, grandnephews and grandnieces; her chosen family Greg and Hiedi Carlin, Mitchel and Shelby Carlin and their son Rhett, and Madison and Logan Dickens and their daughters Lilly, Presley, and Myla.
Mary Jane will be very deeply missed, but her presence will live on through her words of advice, the circulating copies of her recipe book, and the many meticulously created arts and crafts that grace the homes of all she knew. There will not be another like her, rest assured.
A memorial service for Mary Jane will be held at the Connection Point Church, formerly First Presbyterian Church, of Monett, Missouri, 700 East Sycamore Street, Monett, Missouri 65708, from 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm on Sunday, June 29th.
In lieu of flowers, please contribute to the Jane Overeem Memorial Teaching Scholarship via Buchanan Funeral Home or Monett R-1 Public School District, 710 9th Street, Monett, Missouri 65708 (please make the check out to "Monett R-1 School District" with "Jane Overeem Memorial Teaching Scholarship" in the memo line). Thank you!