5G GRANDSON OF REVOLUTIONARY WAR CAPTAIN JOHN GEORGE OVERMIRE

DESCENDANT OF 6 MAYFLOWER PASSENGERS:
Governor William Bradford, Richard Warren, Francis Cooke, Isaac and Mary Allerton and their daughter Mary

WORLD WAR II U.S. NAVY VETERAN, ENSIGN, TASK FORCE 58, U.S.S. BUNKER HILL, FLAGSHIP OF ADMIRAL MITSCHER

DRILL INSTRUCTOR, NAVAL SCHOOL, ASBURY PARK, NJ, 1944

INDIANA ALL-STATE HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL STAR, ONE OF THE "TOUCHDOWN TWINS" WITH TEAMMATE REX GROSSMAN, SR., 1940

TIED NATIONAL ALL-TIME SEASON'S INDIVIDUAL HIGH SCHOOL SCORING RECORD SET BY TOM HARMON (1940, 150 points in 9 games)

SET 4 RECORDS IN HIGH SCHOOL TRACK IN 1941--200 YD. LOW HURDLES (23.8 sec.); 120 YD. HIGH HURDLES (16.0 sec.); HIGH JUMP (5' 8 1/2"); RELAY

ELECTED TO THE HUNTINGTON COUNTY SPORTS HALL OF FAME, 1976

PRESIDENT OF OHIO WESLEYAN'S PHI DELTA THETA FRATERNITY

INDUCTED INTO THE GOLDEN LEGION OF PHI DELTA THETA, 1993

HALFBACK ON OHIO WESLEYAN FOOTBALL TEAM, 1942

HURDLES, HIGH JUMP, 100 YARD DASH (10.5) ON THE OHIO WESLEYAN TRACK TEAM, 1942-3

LIFELONG FAN OF BIG BAND LEADER GLENN MILLER AND HIS ORCHESTRA (Founder of S.P.E.B.B.M.I.A.: Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Big Band Music in America, Bristol Village, OH)

LIFELONG ADVOCATE FOR BROTHERHOOD AND WORLD PEACE



OBITUARY OF RAY E. OVERMIRE JR., by Larry Overmire, Feb 2008:

Raymond Edwin Overmire Jr. of Waverly, formerly of Lorain, passed away Feb 7, 2008, age 85.

A descendant of Revolutionary War Capt. George Overmire as well as Gov. William Bradford and 5 other passengers on the Mayflower, Ray was born in Minneapolis, MN on January 30, 1923, to Raymond Edwin and Lillian (Tifft) Overmire. He graduated from Huntington H.S., IN, where he set four school records in track and was an All-State football star. He and fullback Rex Grossman were dubbed "The Touchdown Twins." (Grossman's grandson of the same name quarterbacked for the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI.)

Ray attended Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, OH, until he was called for military duty. He served in World War II as an Ensign aboard the aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill which was struck by two kamikazes off the coast of Okinawa on May 11, 1945. During the attack, Ensign Overmire was below decks sleeping in his bunk in the stern near the torpedo room, off-duty from his assignment in the radar room of the control tower. Had he been on duty, he likely would have been killed. He was doubly fortunate in that the first kamikaze's bomb missed its target. Otherwise, the torpedo room would have exploded and the whole stern of the ship blown apart. While making his escape, Overmire stopped to give artificial respiration-in vain-to a doomed sailor. Pressing on, with a coffee-drenched rag over his mouth to breathe, he made his way through the thick black smoke and finally, after an ordeal of several hours, reached the safety of the flight deck above. Grateful for having survived, Ray vowed to lead a life of service to God and his fellow man.

On June 27, 1945, he married Mary Lou Fast, the daughter of Irl and Anna Mary (Shriver) Fast, in Cleveland Heights, OH. In the fall of '46, Ray was stricken by polio, which caused permanent damage to his right leg. He graduated from Ohio Wesleyan in 1948 and was a leader of Phi Delta Theta Fraternity.

Ray had a long career as a YMCA executive serving branches in Alliance, OH, Rochester, NY; Xenia, OH; Detroit, MI and finally the Lorain Family Y, OH, from which he retired in 1989. Ray and Mary Lou moved to Bristol Gardens Retirement Village in Waverly, OH, in 1995. Always active in the church, Ray and Mary Lou were members of Northminster Presbyterian in Lorain and Grace United Methodist in Waverly.

Ray was a tireless worker, a devoted father and husband, and a man of great integrity and high principles. Determined to promote brotherhood, he helped organize one of the first interracial fraternities in the country and was the first to hire African-Americans and other minorities in some of the Y's in which he served. "During my forty-one years of YMCA service," Ray once wrote, "I have tried to emphasize the importance of character-building group work and bridge-building interracial and interfaith activities among youth and adults."

In recent years, Ray was a strong advocate for world peace, promoting Christian ideals of love, kindness and forgiveness. He was a member of Rotary, enjoyed stamp collecting and loved to listen to Glenn Miller and other Big Bands.

He will always be remembered by those who knew him in his later years as a valiant caretaker for his wife Mary Lou who suffered from Alzheimer's. She peacefully passed away January 26, 2008, with Ray by her side patiently holding her hand. Theirs was a life-long love affair. It seems only fitting that they would pass over within a matter of days-together.

Ray and Mary Lou will be fondly remembered and greatly missed by all those who knew them.

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WHAT THE NEWSPAPERS SAID ABOUT FOOTBALL STAR RAY OVERMIRE IN 1940:
"The brilliant running attack of the Huntington team was led by a young fellow named Ray Overmire, Jr. He would probably be elected mayor of Huntington today for his performances turned in here Friday night. He scored five touchdowns, no less than 30 points, to personally conduct the campaign to oust Wabash from the top spot in the Central Indiana Conference." --from "Overmire Runs Wild to Count All Five Touchdowns Against Wabash," Wabash Plain Dealer, 28 Sep 1940

"Ray Overmire, Huntington's fleet back, scored two touchdowns in the first period, added another in the third and scored again in the fourth to take point honors and provided the thrill of the evening with a 70-yard scoring run... Shortly before the quarter ended, Overmire took the ball on his own 30 and behind perfect interference fought off two tacklers and reversed his field three times before picking up his interference again to streak for 70 yards for a Norse score and one of the most beautiful runs ever staged on the local gridiron." --from "Vikings Crush Marion Giants Under Top-Heavy 58-13 Score," article in an unknown Indiana newspaper, 1940

"Ray Overmire, Indiana high school leading scorer so far this season, took the opening Garrett kickoff on his own two-yard line and with perfect interference raced through the entire Garrett eleven without an opponent touching him for 98 yards and the first Norse score. Grossman's kick was good." --from "Huntington High Gridders Overwhelm Garrett, 58-0," article in an unknown Indiana newspaper

"Not content with holding the highest scoring record, Ray Overmire, fleet, high-stepping Norse junior backfield ace, also holds the title of the highest individual high school point scorer in Indiana, as far as records can be checked." --from "Huntington High Gridders Overwhelm Garrett, 58-0," article in an unknown Indiana newspaper

"Overmire hit Galbraith with a perfect pass for 23 yards... Grossman failed to get it over in two tries so Overmire went over his right tackle on a cutback for a yard to get the clinching touchdown." -- from "Huntington Proves Its Power, Defeating Central Team, 20-7," by Ben Tenny, Fort Wayne Sentinel, 24 Oct 1940

"Overmire turned in a brilliant piece of running as he shot around his weak side without interference on a 'trick' play, reversed through the secondary and went 27 yards for the third touchdown. Grossman placekicked the extra point attempt." --from "Huntington Proves Its Power, Defeating Central Team, 20-7," by Ben Tenny, Fort Wayne Sentinel, 24 Oct 1940

"Rex 'Cotton' Grossman and Ray Overmire Jr., backs on the Huntington high school football team, are the state's leading individual high school grid scorers and have earned the nickname of 'Touchdown Twins' by fans... Overmire, 165-pound junior right halfback and son of the 'Y' general secretary, is ranked first in state scholastic grid circles... He can run the 100-yard dash in 10.2 in a grid suit." --from "Viking Fans call Grossman, Overmire Touchdown Twins," article in The Wayne Journal Gazette [Note: Ray believed the 10.2 100-yard-dash time mentioned here was inaccurate. He thought his best time in the 100 was 10.5]

" 'Touchdown Twins' they call them, in Huntington and all over Indiana, these fleet-footed, charging backfield artists of the Huntington Viking eleven, who at present are the state's No. 1 and No. 2 leading scorers. And 'twins' they are, Rex 'Cotton' Grossman, No. 54, and Ray Overmire, Jr., No. 57, who are alike in every respect except that Grossman has a habit of doing his ground gaining through the line, while Overmire is an end run specialist... Overmire, the Viking 165 pound junior right halfback, who was kept out of the season last year with a foot ailment, is making up for lost time this year. He has scored in every game in which he has played... Not unlike the famed Harmon of Michigan, Overmire is one of the greatest broken field runners that ever has galloped up and down the turf of Kreigbaum field. In a broken field he is one of the hardest men to bring to the earth and can pick out a hole where no other runner can find one. He runs the 100-yard dash in 10.2 seconds in suit. Besides his athletic ability, Overmire is president of the high school junior class, president of the student council and president of the high school Hi-Y." --from "Overmire and Grossman Are Highest Grid Scorers in State," article in unknown newspaper, 1940 (Indianapolis News, Huntington Herald Press or Ft. Wayne Journal?)


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STORY OF THE DOWNED KAMIKAZE, KIYOSHI OGAWA, by Larry Overmire
A 2001 San Diego newspaper article reported that some personal effects of Kiyoshi Ogawa, one of the downed kamikazes, were returned to his family by descendants of the U.S. sailor who had taken them off the Bunker Hill. Kiyoshi was the 22-year-old son of parents who would lose three sons in the war. Just before his final mission, he wrote his parents, "I feel that I am the happiest person on this planet. I am going to repay my respects to the Emperor--and to you, my father." Seventeen-year-old seaman Robert Schock, a diver who made underwater repairs to ships, retrieved the pilot's items--including a pocket watch and some photos--from the wreckage of the plane, which was surrounded by electrically charged water. After a dramatic search to find the pilot's family, Schock's descendants formally turned over the possessions to Ogawa's relatives, a true gesture of reconciliation and healing in the aftermath of that terrible war. Said Yoko Ogawa, daughter of the pilot's niece, "We're going to make sure this story will be told to our children, our grandchildren, our descendants."

LAST LETTER HOME OF ISAO MATSUA, 11 MAY 1945:
Dear Parents:
Please congratulate me. I have been given a splendid opportunity to die. This is my last day. The destiny of our homeland hinges on the decisive battle in the seas south where I shall fall like a blossom from a radiant cherry tree. How I appreciate this chance to die like a man. Think well of me and know that I so died for our country. May my death be as sudden and clean as the shattering of crystal.
Written at Miyazaki on the day of my sortie,
Isao
[Isao was one of the two Japanese Kamikaze pilots that hit the Bunker Hill on May 11, 1945 at 10:45 a.m.]


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THE ANCESTRY OF RAYMOND EDWIN OVERMIRE, JR., by Larry Overmire, Aug. 2008:

Raymond E. Overmire Jr. is the descendant of six Mayflower passengers: Governor William Bradford, Richard Warren, Francis Cooke, Isaac and Mary Allerton and their daughter Mary. All of these lines of descent come down through his mother Lillian Tifft.

Also through his mother, Ray has been shown to be a descendant of Charlemagne, Alfred the Great, William the Conqueror, Henry I, Empress Matilda, Henry II, King John, Henry III, Edward I, Edward II, Edward III, and John of Gaunt. He has significant Scottish descent from the ancient kings of Scotland, Malcolm III, David I, Somerled Lord of the Isles and Lady Macbeth. He is also descended from Llewellyn the Great Prince of Wales and Ireland's greatest king Brian Boru, and the great Sir William Marshall.

Again through his mother, Ray is believed to have at least 3 lines of Native American ancestry. His 6G Grandfather Joshua Tefft (Tift) reportedly married a Native American named Sarah in Rhode Island, probably of the Narragansett tribe. His 6G grandmother Mary Lufkin is believed to have been a Native American of the St. Regis tribe of New York. There is also evidence that Ray is a direct descendant of Mary "Little Dove" Hyanno, a Native American Princess who married the immigrant Augustine Bearse, and was said to be the great granddaughter of the great Chief Canonicus of the Narragansett nation.

Through his father, Ray has a significant German heritage. He is the 5G grandson of Capt. John George Obermayer, the son of a weaver, who emigrated from Blankenloch, Germany, on the ship "Brothers" in 1751 and became a Captain in George Washington's army in the Revolutionary War, leading Pennsylvania frontiersman into battle. The surname was anglicized into several forms; one of the earliest spellings was "Overmire," though many descendants later adopted the spelling "Overmyer," which is much more common today.

Ray's 4G grandfather John George Overmire Jr., the eldest son of the immigrant Captain, also served in the Revolution. His GG grandfather Levi Overmire served in both the Mexican War and the Civil War, while his great grandfather Silas Overmire was a Captain in the Civil War who served under Ulysses S. Grant for a time.

Ray's grandfather Edwin Parker Overmire was a gifted and well-known architect in Minneapolis who died in the midst of a promising career at the age of 41.

Ray's father Raymond Sr. served in the Navy in World War I, became an executive in the YMCA and later an ordained minister in the Methodist church.

Ray's paternal line also includes significant Irish heritage through his GG Grandmother Sarah Hill, whose ancestral line unfortunately has to this point been untraceable.

Ray's paternal grandmother Esther Williams has a prominent line of English ancestry which includes early Massachusetts immigrants from the Torrey, Stockbridge, and Dudley families from whom many distinguished Americans, including six Presidents, are descended.

NOTABLE RELATIONS
Raymond E. Overmire Jr. shares common ancestors with BRITAINS Sir Winston Churchill, the Duke of Marlborough, Princess Diana Spencer and her sons William and Henry Windsor, U.S. PRESIDENTS Zachary Taylor, Franklin Pierce, Millard Fillmore, Ulysses S. Grant, Chester A. Arthur, James A. Garfield, Rutherford B. Hayes, William H. Taft, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Richard M. Nixon, Gerald R. Ford, Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, FIRST LADIES Dolley Madison, Edith Kermit Carow (Mrs. Teddy Roosevelt), Bess Truman, Mamie Eisenhower, Nancy Davis Reagan,and Barbara Bush, VICE PRESIDENTS Elbridge Gerry (Signer of the Declaration of Independence), Hannibal Hamlin, Charles Warren Fairbanks, Dan Quayle, and Dick Cheney, SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION John Hancock and Stephen Hopkins, SUPREME COURT JUSTICES Salmon P. Chase and Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., GOVERNORS Bob Taft of Ohio, Gen. Henry H. Sibley (first Governor of Minnesota), Endicott Peabody of Massachusetts, and Edward Everett of Massachusetts, SENATORS Stephen A. Douglas, Adlai Stevenson III, Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., Chauncey Goodrich, Alan Cranston, and John Kerry, PRESIDENTIAL ADVISORS William P. Bundy and McGeorge Bundy, SECRETARIES OF STATE William Jennings Bryan and John Foster Dulles, POLITICAL LEADERS George Partridge (Continental Congress), Nathaniel Gorham (Continental Congress), Rep. Elizur Goodrich, Attorney General Elliot Richardson, U. S. Congresswoman Emily Taft Douglas, Jan Garrigue Masaryk (foreign minister of Czechoslovakia), political economist Edward S. Mason, George Horace Gallup (Gallup Poll), EXPLORERS/PIONEERS Capt. Robert Gray, Johnny Appleseed, Adm. Richard E. Byrd, MILITARY LEADERS Col. Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte Jr., "Buffalo Bill" Cody, Wild Bill Hickok, Gen. Leonard Wood, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, REVOLUTIONARY WAR HEROES Gen. Benedict Arnold, Gen. Benjamin Tupper, Lt. Col. Ebenezer Sproat, Revolutionary War heroine Deborah Sampson, COMMODORES Oliver Hazard Perry and Matthew Calbraith Perry, CIVIL WAR HEROES Gen. George B. McClellan, Gen. Joseph Hooker, Gen. Adelbert Ames, Col. Robert Gould Shaw (portrayed in the film "Glory"), Commander William B. Cushing, Lt. Alonzo Cushing (Cushing's Battery), Lt. Howard B. Cushing (Indian Fighter), Josiah Granville Leach (originator of Flag Day), Lt. Col. Jacob L. Greene (Adjutant to Gen. Custer), Col. Charles Russell Lowell FEMINISTS Lucretia Coffin Mott, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, ABOLITIONISTS Henry Ward Beecher, Maria Weston Chapman, and Charles Turner Torrey RELIGIOUS LEADERS Rev. William Ellery Channing (Father of American Unitarianism), Rev. Hosea Ballou (Father of American Universalism), Rev. James Freeman (first Unitarian preacher), Rev. Phebe Hanaford (first female minister in New England), Joseph Smith (founder of the Mormons), biblical scholar Lucius Paige, SOCIAL REFORMERS Rev. Theodore Parker, Rev. Adin Ballou, and Rev. Everett Edward Hale (author of "Man Without A Country"), Clara Barton (Founder of the Red Cross), Roger Nash Baldwin (Founder of the ACLU), SCIENTISTS Linus Pauling (chemist), horticulturist Luther Burbank, Sewall Wright (evolutionary theorist), rocket scientist Robert H. Goddard, R. Buckminster Fuller, Dr. Benjamin Spock, astronomer Maria Mitchell, anthropologist Margaret Mead, INVENTORS Thomas Edison, Elias Howe, Samuel Morse, George Eastman, and Philo Taylor Farnsworth (television), AVIATORS Amelia Earhart, the Wright Brothers, astronaut Alan Bartlett Shepard, EDUCATOR John Dewey, GENEALOGISTS James Savage and Clarence Almon Torrey, BUSINESS LEADERS John Pierpont (J.P.) Morgan, Henry Clay Folger (founder of the Folger Shakespeare Library), James Athearn Folger (Founder of the Folger Coffee Company), Alfred Call Fuller (Founder of Fuller Brush Co.), George M. Pullman (Founder of the Pullman Car Co.), Gail Borden (Founder of Borden Inc.), the philanthropic Rockefeller heirs, Nathaniel Currier (Currier & Ives), James Drummond Dole (of Dole Pineapple), Marjorie "Betty Crocker" Child, ARCHITECTS Daniel Hudson Burnham, Frank Lloyd Wright, ARTISTS Blanche Ames, Frederic Remington, Grandma Moses, Winslow Homer, George O. Catlin, N. C. Wyeth and Andrew Wyeth, Norman Rockwell, Frederick Edwin Church, Charles Dana Gibson, illustrator Sophia Peabody (Mrs. Nathaniel Hawthorne), cartoonist Walt Disney, and lamp designer Lewis Tiffany, photographer Ansel Adams, choreographer Martha Graham, SCULPTORS Daniel Chester French (Lincoln Memorial) and Charles Eugene Tefft, POETS Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John Greenleaf Whittier, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Alice Cary, Phoebe Cary, Florence Earle Coates, William Cullen Bryant, Edgar Lee Masters, Archibald MacLeish, Robinson Jeffers, Emily Dickinson, Joel Barlow, Robert Frost, T. S. Eliot, Conrad Potter Aiken, Edward Arlington Robinson, James Russell Lowell, Robert Lowell, Amy Lowell, and e.e. cummings, PLAYWRIGHTS Thornton Wilder and Tennessee Williams, WRITERS Henry David Thoreau, Herman Melville, Richard Henry Dana, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Horatio Alger Jr., H.P. Lovecraft, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Stephen Crane, Ambrose Bierce, L. Frank Baum ("The Wizard of Oz"), Edgar Rice Burroughs ("Tarzan"), Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Mrs. Charles Lindbergh), Erle Stanley Gardner ("Perry Mason"), DuBose Heyward, John Steinbeck, James Thurber, Garrison Keillor, Ray Bradbury, George Plimpton, Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison (Pulitzer Prize-winning historian), Louisa May Alcott, Richard Hildreth, Lydia Child ("Over the River and Through the Woods"), Fannie Farmer (cookbook author), biographer Gamaliel Bradford, PUBLISHERS/EDITORS Horace Greeley, Frank Nelson Doubleday, Frank Gannett, Henry Robinson Luce, G. P. Putnam and Sons, the Scribner family, Hugh Hefner, Noah Webster (Webster's Dictionary), John Bartlett of Bartlett's Quotations, Francis Pharcellus Church ("Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus"), Esther Allen Howland (produced the first American Valentines), CELEBRITIES/SOCIALITES Fanny Appleton (Mrs. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow), Thomas Gold Appleton (Boston Arts Patron), Wild Bill Hickok, Jennie Jerome (mother of Winston Churchill), Helen Pitts (Mrs. Frederick Douglass), Phyllis Livingston Baker (Mrs. Fred Astaire), Zelda (Mrs. F. Scott) Fitzgerald, suspected murderer Lizzie Borden, chef Julia Child, SINGERS Pete Seeger, The Beach Boys (Brian Wilson & Co.), and Donnie and Marie Osmond, COMPOSERS Arthur Foote, Charles Edward Ives, Cole Porter, Philip Brooks (wrote "O Little Town of Bethlehem"), James L. Pierpont (composer of "Jingle Bells"), and ACTORS/ENTERTAINERS John Howard Payne (America's First Hamlet), Maude Adams, Lillian Russell, Tom Mix, Katherine Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, Bing Crosby, Orson Welles, John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Tonight Show host Johnny Carson, Richard Gere, Oliver Platt, Anthony Perkins, Christopher Reeve, John Lithgow, Bruce Dern, Laura Dern, Lucille Ball, Luci Arnaz, Desi Arnaz Jr., Alec, Stephen and Billy Baldwin, Henry, Jane, Peter, and Bridget Fonda, and presumably Marilyn Monroe.


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"A CHIP OFF THE OLD SQUARE"

A BIOGRAPHY OF RAYMOND EDWIN OVERMIRE, Jr.
(1923 - 2008)

by Laurence Overmire, May 2008

FOREWORD

Ray Overmire, Jr., intended to title his memoirs "A Chip Off the Old Square," a joking reference to his father's memoirs, "The Making of a Square." A "square" in sixties lingo referred to those rigidly conventional, dull, un-hip people who were out of touch with what was "happening, man!" Ray Sr. took the term, somewhat tongue in cheek, as a badge of honor. He was proud to stand for traditional Christian values and concerns and opposed to behaviors which did damage to one's self and other human beings. Ray Jr. also considered himself a square in this positive, traditional sense.

Ray Jr. made an outline for his book and, on the 50^th Anniversary of D-Day in 2004, wrote an introduction:

A CHIP OFF THE OLD SQUARE

INTRODUCTION

Before this special day ends I want to begin my long postponed autobiography. This is the sixth of June, the sixtieth anniversary of D-Day of WW II and the 160th anniversary of the founding of the Y.M.C.A. by George Williams in London, England. I have been emotionally connected to both of these world events, so this is a fitting time to start.

During my lifetime of eighty-one years I have been wonderfully blessed. I can look back on much good fortune along with setbacks and regrets of course. But all in all what a wonderful experience I have had living my life!

I have been lucky enough to have been born into a super family and have come to know and appreciate a whole lot of very good relatives personally including many on my wife's side. In recent years I have learned much about my heritage going way, way back to Europe from whence they came.

I could never have wished for a better heritage and I realize that it has been up to me to be a worthy descendant.

Ray E. Overmire Jr.
June 6, 2004

Unfortunately, though he had every intention of doing so, with his health declining and even the most mundane tasks becoming more and more difficult and time-consuming, Ray never did get to the actual writing of the manuscript.

In honor of my father, I have taken it upon myself to at least write a much shorter version of what Ray might have written, and I have titled it as he would have, "A Chip Off the Old Square." He must have spent a lot of time organizing his materials as they were meticulously compiled in various notebooks and folders. This made it much easier for me to identify many of the important highlights of his life and put it all together in a narrative form.

I hope that my father would be proud of my efforts in telling his story, so that future generations will be able to appreciate, at least in some small part, what a unique and courageous individual he was. Although admittedly, he probably would be somewhat embarrassed by some of the accolades here! Ray was, after all, a very modest fellow and not one to toot his own horn.

At the end of his life, I marveled at the devotion with which he cared for my mother, at the tenacity with which he struggled to maintain his independent lifestyle when his body was failing, and at the incredible will he demonstrated in overcoming the many obstacles that stood in his way.

Though we had our differences throughout our time on this Earth together, seeing things from generationally-different perspectives, I came to appreciate the steadfast love of this man for those he cared about and the commitment he demonstrated to all he undertook. He never gave up or quit. He was always optimistic. Even proud Death had an extremely difficult time claiming the much-valued life of Ray Overmire, Jr. He would have gone on for decades more if only he could.

Now it is up to us, his living descendants, to honor his memory, to carry on his good work and his good name, and to help create a better world of love, peace and justice for all.



A CHIP OFF THE OLD SQUARE


RAYMOND EDWIN OVERMIRE, JR., was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Jan. 30, 1923, the son of Raymond Sr. and Lillian Tifft Overmire. One of Ray Jr.'s earliest memories was seeing Charles Lindbergh's plane land and take off on one of his post-Paris-flight barnstorming trips.

Ray Sr. was the Boy's Work Secretary (now called Youth Director) of the Southtown Branch of the Minneapolis Y. The family lived in Minneapolis until 1929 when they moved to Lima, Ohio. It was Ray Jr.'s first move to Ohio, but it certainly wouldn't be his last. Over the course of his life, Ray would live in ten different cities in five different states, but he kept returning to Ohio, so eventually he came to consider himself a "Buckeye" and a fan of those Cleveland Indians, Cavaliers, and Browns.

"In the 30's in Lima I remember grade and Jr. high school and lots of free time to play outdoors. Those were the Depression years but as children we hardly knew it. Dad had a job and never knew how much money he would get from week to week, but we never felt deprived - we were having a ball with unstructured and unsupervised play after school. Pick-up softball, playing hide-and-seek, collecting baseball cards and stamps -those were the days! In Lima I remember well the time Harry Pierpont and the Dillinger Gang helped John escape from the Lima jail."

Ray's parents taught him early on that everyone was created equal, no matter what race or background they came from. Two of Ray's sports heroes were black men-Jesse Owens and Joe Louis. His other great hero was Lou Gehrig.

One of Ray's best friends at Roosevelt Grade School in Lima, Frank Updegrove, was African-American. They discovered on the playground that they were the two fastest kids in the third grade, a bonding experience for both of them. In 1932, they went to a baseball game together and were subjected to the harsh realities of segregation:

"One day my Dad and I took Frank with us to a minor league exhibition baseball game between the Columbus Red Birds with Nick Cullop and the Minneapolis Millers with Joe Hauser, my idol. Coming from Minneapolis to Lima, Ohio in 1929 naturally we favored the Millers. This was one of the highlights of my young life. Unfortunately, we found out that Frank was not allowed to sit with us. That upset us greatly and it made a very big impression on my sense of justice. I believe that incident spurred my desire to work for racial justice and brotherhood throughout my career and my life."

Nearly every summer, the Overmire family would spend 2-8 weeks back in Glencoe, Minnesota, at the home of Lillian's parents, Judge Cyril and Lillian Tifft, while Ray Sr. was running a YMCA summer camp. Ray Jr. and his cousin Don Tifft were the best of friends. They played baseball constantly and even formed their own teams as Ray wrote in a letter to his dad in 1935:

"We made a baseball team called the Bluebirds. We each chipped in 20 cents and ordered 13 blue and red baseball caps. We made letters and numbers of blue felt and put them on our undershirts. My number is 7 and Donny's 11... I am ahead of Donny now in home runs eight to six."

In 1936, the Overmires moved to Huntington, Indiana, where they would remain until 1942. Ray Jr. attended Huntington High School. He became a popular school leader and a star athlete, participating in 4 years of both football and track. He was President of the junior and senior classes, President of the Student Council his junior and senior years and President of the Hi-Y club.

In track he set four records: high hurdles, low hurdles, high jump (5' 8 1/2") and relay. He also broad jumped, but did not set a record in that event. Ray recalled his fastest time ever in the 100-yd-dash was 10.5, though the newspapers reported he ran a 10.2 in his football uniform.

In football, he won All-State honors in 1940 for tying the individual scoring record set by the legendary Tom Harmon of Michigan Wolverines fame. Ray and fullback Rex Grossman were dubbed "The Touchdown Twins" and became quite a sensation in Indiana at the time.

One newspaper reported:

"Touchdown Twins" they call them, in Huntington and all over Indiana, these fleet-footed, charging backfield artists of the Huntington Viking eleven, who at present are the state's No. 1 and No. 2 leading scorers. And 'twins' they are, Rex 'Cotton' Grossman, No. 54, and Ray Overmire, Jr., No. 57, who are alike in every respect except that Grossman has a habit of doing his ground gaining through the line, while Overmire is an end run specialist... Overmire, the Viking 165 pound junior right halfback, who was kept out of the season last year with a foot ailment, is making up for lost time this year. He has scored in every game in which he has played... Not unlike the famed Harmon of Michigan, Overmire is one of the greatest broken field runners that ever has galloped up and down the turf of Kreigbaum field. In a broken field he is one of the hardest men to bring to the earth and can pick out a hole where no other runner can find one.

Ray was elected into the Huntington County Sports Hall of Fame in 1976.

Rex went on to play in the NFL for the Baltimore Colts, while his grandson of the same name went on to become a star quarterback for Steve Spurrier and the University of Florida, finishing as runner-up for the Heisman trophy in 2001. The younger Rex also played in the NFL, as quarterback for the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI.

Ray, however, had decided against pursuing the limelight of professional football, so he turned down a football scholarship to attend Indiana University and opted instead to go to a small school, Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio.

Ray was interested in even bigger things. Growing up, he saw how the world was in turmoil. Even at an early age he knew he wanted to devote his life somehow to working for the cause of peace and brotherhood. On the eve of his 18^th birthday, he wrote a note to himself:

"When one looks at the world today, he wonders. Is life worthwhile? What are we coming to? Is there any hope for Christianity and world peace? Well, I believe there is, and I pray to God that I may live to see the day when world brotherhood is manifest. Oh what a mess people have made of things. War! Hate! War! Hate!… A way must be found for love and peace! I pray that I may do my bit to that end."

Ray was a determined young man who set difficult goals for himself, yet when he set his mind to something he often achieved it. For example, in the summer of 1941, he decided to challenge himself by taking a 620-mile bicycle trip from Huntington, Indiana, to St. Paul, Minnesota, to visit relatives. The Huntington Herald Press reported:

"Young Overmire, who starred with the Huntington High School football team last fall, told his father that the trip gave him a good leg workout for next fall's gridiron season."

At Ohio Wesleyan in 1942 and 1943, Ray quickly became prominent in student affairs. He was active in Student Government, President of his pledge class in the Phi Delta Theta fraternity (and later President of the fraternity), and President of the Student YMCA. He also played halfback in football and participated in track.

Ray was also determined to do his part in the war effort, so in 1943 he enlisted in the Navy V-12 program.

Then on April 11, 1944, fate grabbed hold of him: he met the love of his life, the beautiful Mary Lou Fast. Even though he was a BMOC (Big Man on Campus), she had no idea who he was. He modestly handed her his ID card to introduce himself. They seemed to "click" instantly and soon fell in love.

The Navy, however, had more pressing plans for Ray. They sent him to New York from July to October to attend Columbia University's Midshipmen's School. Ray was made commander of the 9^th Company there. His unit won the honor award and Ray was allowed one special visitor to attend the graduation ceremony on October 26, 1944. Naturally, he chose Mary Lou. She traveled to New York and was the honorary "Color Girl" at the ceremony, just prior to Ray's being commissioned as Ensign.

The young couple did some sight-seeing, including an enjoyable visit to the Cloisters in Upper Manhattan, but being in love, the time must have slipped by much too quickly before Ray realized he had to return to base in order to make curfew. He was obliged to put Mary Lou alone on a subway to find her way to the apartment where she was to stay near the Columbia University. As a total stranger to the Big Apple, she didn't realize he had mistakenly put her on an express train instead of a local. She went to Times Square and didn't know where she was or how to get back. By some miracle she made her way to 110th street, but took the easternmost subway line and had to walk many blocks west, alone, in Harlem, late at night. Years later, she recalled seeing a light beckoning in front of her and when she reached it, it happened to be the apartment she was looking for. Not only that, when she entered the room, she was amazed to see a picture of her cousin Phil Shriver on the dresser! As it turns out, a Cowdery relative from Ray's mother's side of the family had recommended this apartment, which was just so happened to be the home of Martha Nye, the fiancé of Mary Lou's cousin Phil (who would later become President of Miami University of Ohio).

It was on this trip (or an earlier one that Mary Lou made to NY that summer) that Ray proposed to Mary Lou on a park bench near Riverside Church, but the wedding plans would have to remain indefinite. The war made their lives too unpredictable.

After Columbia, from Oct. 27 - Nov. 24, as a newly commissioned ensign, Ray was sent to the Naval School at Asbury Park, New Jersey, where he worked as a Drill Instructor. From the window of his room in the Hotel Wentworth, he could see a sign that said "Pizza." So he went there to investigate and had a taste of this new exotic food for the first time.

Sometime in October, he received a letter from his best friend and Big Brother at the Phi Delta Theta fraternity, Sam Tretheway, who was serving overseas as an army medic. Sam had asked Ray several questions, but Ray kept procrastinating in responding. Finally, he wrote back in late November, answering all of Sam's questions. That procrastination would come to haunt him.

On Dec. 1, 1944, Ray was sent to receive training at the Tactical Radar School in Hollywood Beach, Florida. On Dec. 30, while staying at the Hollywood Beach Hotel, Ray received a letter from his Phi Delt housemother, informing him that Sam had been killed in France on Dec. 5 (during what came to be known as The Battle of the Bulge). Ray was shocked, his grief made more profound when his last letter to Sam was returned to him undelivered. The incident would have a lasting effect on his life. Even years later, at the age of 78, he choked with tears when relating the story of his buddy Sam. He mostly regretted that he had taken so long to write him back. But Ray had learned a valuable lesson. He quickly sent a letter to his aging grandmother Lillian Richardson Tifft and told her how much she meant to him. He wanted to be sure to express his feelings to those he loved before it was too late.

Ray would later call 1945 his favorite year, but it certainly started on a sad note knowing that his best friend had been sacrificed to the war effort. On Jan. 1, Ray put some of his thoughts down in a letter to Mary Lou:

"My mind has been rather mixed up. I had planned certain things to do. Then when I heard about Sam and when other minor things came up my plans seemed to fold… I am finding it hard to take his death philosophically. I needed someone to talk to. I needed you… I wrote some letters today - they weren't very happy letters but they were letters of hope. Hope that from these honored dead the living shall take renewed strength to accomplish that cherished end for which these men gave their most priceless possession. I feel my indebtedness now more than ever. I hope I never lose that feeling… Of course I am saddened by the death of Sam, but that grief is no longer an affliction. It has become part of my makeup now; it's stored securely in that department called determination and it will henceforth spur me on to do everything in my power toward building that better world that Sam and so many others have died for."

Ray's correspondence with his fiancé Mary Lou was sometimes mushy and playful as well. In this letter to her written on Jan. 6, 1945, he confessed his other secret love:

"I am working on my shoulders a little every day so that I can play some football after the war. (My joints became pretty well shot in high school.) I guess I never did confess to you my secret love, did I? Well I confess, now - the most beautiful thing in the world to me was a green, striped turf, a long spiral pass, a booming punt, and a twisting halfback - until I met you. There it is - out in the open at last - true confessions."

Ray requested an assignment aboard a cruiser, but was thrilled when he was selected to serve on Vice-Admiral Mark Mitscher's flagship of Task Force 58, the U.S.S. Bunker Hill (CV 17), nicknamed "Holiday Express" for her many slashing attacks during the Christmas and New Year's holidays.

His training completed in Florida on Jan. 31, Ray was given leave to go back to Indiana to visit his parents and see Mary Lou for one last time before going off to war. He flew to San Francisco about Feb. 14 and reported to the 12^th Naval District Staff Headquarters. While there, he spent time with one of his mother's aunts, whom he had never met before, Hattie Tifft Zierke and her family. He very much enjoyed their visit.

On Feb. 23, he boarded the troop transport ship U.S.S. Hugh L. Scott and landed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Mar. 2, where he was to attend the Pacific Fleet Schools. On this trip, everyone was getting seasick with the rolling and pitching of the ship. The stench from the sailors' vomit was so overwhelming that Ray finally succumbed himself, the only time in his life that he ever got seasick.

While in Hawaii, Ray went to visit the parents of Waichi Takemoto for dinner one evening. A Hawaiian by birth, Waichi was hired by Ray Sr. many years before as a Y camp counselor. At the camp, he met and befriended Ray Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Takemoto were gracious hosts, but they were unaware that the beer they served Ray was his very first. Ray was a fierce opponent of alcohol and drinking his entire life, so he was not exactly thrilled by the offering, but he politely accepted it nonetheless. He gave it a taste and hated it, but as he continued to drink it out of respect for his hosts, they in turn politely kept filling up his glass. Finally, Ray figured out that if he didn't drink anymore, they wouldn't fill up his glass again!

Ray didn't have time to sightsee while at Pearl, but he did scoop up some sand from the beach there as a personal memento. No doubt, the horrific events of Dec. 7, 1941, were playing upon his mind. That jar of Pearl Harbor sand remained in the Overmire household for many years until Ray finally discarded it somewhat remorsefully very late in life. (He had always wanted to return to Pearl with Mary Lou to show her the sights, but he never did.)

From Pearl, Ray set off on the U.S.S. Omar Bundy (AP 152), which transported him Mar. 20 - Apr. 5 to an atoll in the South Pacific called Ulithi, a U.S. Navy staging area. From Apr. 5 - Apr 14, Ray was aboard a tanker, the U.S.S. Tallulah (AO 50).

Meanwhile, on Apr. 7, 1945, probably unbeknownst to Ray, the Bunker Hill was involved in a deadly attack on the Japanese naval force in the East China Sea. Planes from the Bunker Hill sent nine torpedoes into the great enemy battleship Yamato, sinking her.

Finally, on Apr. 14, 1945, Ray boarded the Bunker Hill. Ray recalled many years later that it was a destroyer that took him to the Bunker Hill, but the dates indicate it may have actually been the tanker Tallulah. In any case, the ship Ray was on was much smaller than the huge aircraft carrier, so Ray was put into a breeches buoy, which hoisted him aloft and lifted him, swaying from side to side, up to the flight deck of the Bunker Hill, an experience which Ray found quite exhilarating.

Safely aboard, Ray was assigned to the Combat Information Center or C.I.C., which was located just below the hangar deck near the tower or "island." The ship was steered from the island which was the command and control center and contained the high-ranking officers. The C.I.C. was, of course, where the combat operations were conducted. They wanted Ray to be a Fighter Director, one of those whose job was to talk to the pilots and direct them to their targets, but Ray had no training for that position, so instead he was assigned to the large 360-degree glass board plotting the various ships and planes in the area of operations.

The next few weeks would prove to be momentous for the young Ensign. Ray, like all Americans, had already been reeling from the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt on April 12. That shock turned to elation with the Victory in Europe or V-E Day on May 8, but the war in the Pacific was still raging.

Ray missed Mary Lou terribly. They were writing letters almost every day back and forth. Delivery was slow. It took about 3 weeks. The letters had to go through censors in order to protect American military secrets, so oftentimes Ray used codes to communicate with his family. He often put a secret message to Mary Lou underneath the postage stamp. Mary Lou would soak off the stamp and find Ray had written silly little notes: "Kiss me honey," or "I love my little ole pot!"

In this letter Ray recalled their first kiss:

May 1: "To Mary Lou - May Day, 'Somewhere at Sea' Three letters from you today ... I was on watch when mail call sounded so I had to read my mail bit by bit in between busy spells. The three choice bits I received today were written Apr.9, 10, and 14... I think it was a year ago yesterday that I kissed you for the first time. What a wonderful Sunday that was. I was really ga-ga when I returned to the barracks that night! I'm sorry that your guess about my ship coming back to Frisco is wrong. The Bunker won't be due back there for a long time, darn it! When it does though, I'll hurry to you as fast as possible if I get enough of a leave ..."

Ray talked a little bit about life aboard ship in this one:

May 2: "Well, I've got just a little seniority now. Several new young ensigns (...my age) recently reported aboard- they seem pretty nice fellows. Library facilities on this ship aren't nearly as good as I hoped they would be. There are quite a few books available, but no periodicals- and I love to read things like the Advocate, Nation, National Geographic, etc. as well as Time, Readers' Digest, Life, and the like. I have been disappointed similarly on one other thing and that is that there is no music room or annex to the wardroom where records could be played (like on the tanker or transport I was on). Some carriers have them. Of course the radio is always on in the wardroom but I enjoy selecting my own music. Oh well, I'm extremely fortunate that this is the extent of my disappointment. Outside of those two things I'm very well satisfied with this ship.- what's more important it can stand on its own record as one of the best ships in the fleet. Had the 12-18 watch again today - getting to be a habit. Apparently I am considered to be ready to take my regular turn now."

More from Ray on ship life in this letter to his parents dated May 3:

"My expenses aren't much at all - mess share, mess bill, and misc. comprise them all. Laundry service is good - and free. If my eyes hold up and stay 20-20 till the war is over I'll be darn lucky. The lighting situation is poor here where I'm writing and in the C.I.C. where I read a lot it is purposely dim. I'll try to be careful. Soon I intend to get my teeth all fixed up - they never bother at all now that I've cut out candy. Our food is still fairly good - remarkably so considering - some of it is dehydrated but I don't mind those potatoes too much - we always get good desserts- usually ice cream (ge-dunk) and plenty of that so I leave the table in good spirit most of the time. This may be the only chance I'll get to write you this time. But more will always follow. Everybody work hard and have fun!"

For her part, Mary Lou tried to keep Ray's spirits up. She wrote:

"Whenever you're far away and you begin to get discouraged or downhearted look up at the sky, the stars, the moon or the sun and remember that no matter how far away you are from me we are still under the very same stars and moon and sun. They'll be watching over you for me... I'll still be beside you in spirit always."

In a letter dated May 7, she expressed her own concerns for Ray's safety and reflected on V-E Day:

"I got five more letters today. Boy, they've been coming through swell lately...I hope they keep coming through at least once a week from now on. It does wonders for my morale ... I wish that you could tell me more about what you're doing but I realize you can't. I guess I'll just have to wait until the war is over. At least I have a general idea after seeing 'The Fighting Lady'.

"I guess you must be seeing some action now, perhaps more than I realize. It's so hard for me to visualize you in a setting like that. It doesn't suit you somehow. I have put my trust completely in God's hands. I feel sure that he will guide you safely back and with this faith I, too, am unafraid.

"Today the news came that Germany had unconditionally surrendered. It was good news yet it didn't make me feel like rejoicing and celebrating like it did to some people. The news just made me thank God that this much of the battle is won and to pray that the next portion will be over soon. I won't celebrate until the day the Japs have surrendered and I know that you are safe and sound."

Ray's letter to Mary Lou on May 8 expressed his jubilation over the Victory in Europe :

"What glad tidings shattered the stillness of the mid-watch last night! That long awaited capitulation of Germany is at last a reality. The news was piped over the P.A. as soon as it arrived, I guess. Now at last we can concentrate on Japan! We figure, however, that it will be at least four to six months before we will feel any appreciable difference in this war. Still it's good to know that more Allied military might is on the way ... I'll bet the folks back home are really celebrating now!! As long as they don't forget their war efforts are still needed, I'm all for a glorious celebration. Isn't it wonderful that so many families will be reunited soon? People will travel from one corner of Europe to another now and rendezvous with whatever is left of their home and loved ones. This is indeed a glorious day. The lights are going on again - at long last!"

But he also had some sad news.

"The other day I received a few letters including one from Mrs. Tretheway describing in detail how Sam met his death and reminding me again of how he lived for the day he would return to Ohio Beta [Ohio Wesleyan's Phi Delt chapter] ... she enclosed a picture of Sam, the best I've ever seen of him in his uniform - and the Phi Delt ring he was so proud of seemed almost to leap right out of the picture and hit me in the face."

The next day, May 9, Ray wrote a letter to his parents describing how Sam was killed.

"Sam's mother wrote me of his death. He was out looking for a way to evacuate the wounded near Saurlauten (sp?) when a German shell fragment pierced his heart killing him instantly. His superior officer said he died as he 'fought' - with a smile..."

In later years, Ray would say he was "the second luckiest man on the face of the earth," after Lou Gehrig, of course. He was usually referring to his relationship with Mary Lou, but luck certainly played a dramatic role for him in 1945. A huge Glenn Miller fan, Ray was lucky he happened to bunk in the room next door to the ship's band's rehearsal room. This is from a letter to Mary Lou on May 9:

"The ship has a swing band, a concert band, and orchestra which plays frequently on the hangar deck. Their music certainly does a lot for morale. The band is really good and plays a lot of Miller arrangements which fact satisfies me no end. They often practice in the compartment adjacent to this bunkroom and serenade me to sleep..."

Ray's letter to Mary Lou on May 10 was poignant:

"If this war has taught us nothing else, it certainly should have awakened the average American to the value of a single human life. I pray to God that all of us who have learned that significant truth will endeavor to make the most of that life… Darling, you and I will make the most of our lives, won't we?"

The next day, May 11, 1945, would be a day that would "live in infamy" for all those who served on the Bunker Hill. For Ray, it might have been the very last day of his life, but "luck" was with him and this time it would prove to be the difference between life and death.

As fortune would have it, on May 11, Ray had the late night watch in the C.I.C. and when his shift ended in the morning he went to his bunk to get some sleep. His bunk was located near the torpedo room several decks below the flight deck. He was awakened by a big loud "Bang!" about 10:05 a.m. He scrambled into the passageway outside his bunkroom and dropped to his hands and knees because of the smoke collecting everywhere. He was handed a coffee-soaked rag to hold over his mouth to breathe. Ray had no idea what had happened. There was no call to General Quarters. He had no idea that his ship had just been struck by two Japanese Kamikazes, no idea that the flight deck above was engulfed in flames, sailors scrambling to put out the fires. He opened the door to the nearby galley to see if he could help anyone out in there, but after venturing into the room a short distance, the smoke was suffocating, so he retreated and quickly closed the door again. He then made his way to the sick bay nearby. He recalled the incident many years later in a videotaped interview with his son Larry:

"The sick bay was right near on the same level, so I went over there and there was some, I don't know, a few guys laid out unconscious and there was also some staff, I don't know if there were any medics there or not, but I started trying to resuscitate one of the fellas. He had been brought into the sick bay. He was unconscious, so I was trying to give him artificial respiration, I think by what was called the Schaeffer Method. You see, they didn't have CPR in those days and so I couldn't get him revived and I kept working on him and working on him. [He broke down in tears at this point.] It seems like I remembered seeing his ID or a picture of his family or something. So anyway, you know, I hated like hell to give up, but I couldn't do it, I couldn't get him back, so I left there and then it was a matter of trying to escape."

For the next several hours, Ray and other survivors slowly made their way through the smoky blackness, in an orderly fashion, not panicking, up the ladders from deck to deck until they finally emerged into an open space just below the flight deck. Ray wrote about the experience 50 years later in a paper he titled, "A Foxhole in the Sea:"

"It was during that seemingly very long period that we were trapped below decks that I prayed a special prayer which I repeated over and over. I consider it my 'foxhole' prayer. I promised God that if it was his will for me to survive I would dedicate my life to doing the work of two men - one for myself and one for Sam [Tretheway]. I would honestly try to the best of my ability to work twice as hard as I otherwise would to follow Sam's goal represented by this poem he introduced to me at the fraternity house in 1942:

"I live for those who love me;
For my friends so tried and true,
For the Heaven that smiles above me
And awaits my spirit, too;
For the wrong that needs resistance,
For the right that needs assistance,
For the future in the distance
And the good that I can do.
G. Linnaeus Banks 1821-1881
(paraphrased)

"After a while I was able to scramble along with many others up a ladder to the next level. Eventually we worked our way up to the fantail and fresh air -at long last! We just sat there for the longest time, breathing and thanking God for our escape. It was dark and we couldn't see much around us. By that time I think the fires were out and we were limping along under our own power - away from the fray, but wondering whether we would be attacked again at any time."

Soon the details of what had happened would become clear. The Bunker Hill had been hit by two Kamikazes in what would be the deadliest attack of its kind in the war. Ray later found out that a fraternity brother from Ohio Wesleyan, Bob Patterson, an ensign aboard the U.S.S. Randolph, had seen the whole thing through his binoculars. He was watching a returning flight of American aircraft when suddenly two planes peeled off from the rear of the formation and dived directly toward the Bunker Hill. The enemy had sneaked in behind the U.S. aircraft unnoticed and avoided radar detection. The Bunker Hill was caught completely unawares with no time to sound General Quarters. They barely got off half a dozen shots before the first plane unloaded its 550 lb. bomb and crashed into the flight deck where 34 aircraft had just been fueled, loaded with ammunition and made ready for take-off. The deck erupted in flame as the plane skidded among the parked American planes and slid off the side of the ship into the sea. The delayed-action bomb fortunately passed through the flight deck and out the hull exploding in mid-air before it hit the ocean. That must have been the loud "Bang!" that woke Ray up.

Meanwhile, the second Kamikaze dove right through the anti-aircraft fire, dropped its bomb onto the already blazing stern of the ship, and crashed into the base of the island superstructure where it met the flight deck, just above the C.I.C. This was a perfect hit, the sweet spot that the Kamikazes aimed for, where the impact would do the most damage. The island was engulfed in flame.

A third Kamikaze now dove for the ship to finish the job. The Bunker Hill's gunners bravely refused to leave their posts, ignoring the flames and smoke, and fiercely fired volley after volley at the oncoming plane, but it was a nearby destroyer that actually made the fatal hit that sent it plunging harmlessly into the sea.

A cruiser, the Wilkes-Barre, and three destroyers eventually came to the Bunker Hill's aid to help her put out the raging inferno. The pilots of the returning aircraft who were unable to land because of the attack combed the sea for the nearly 300 men who were lost overboard, guiding ships in the vicinity to pull 269 of them to safety.

Admiral Mitscher was unhurt himself, but he lost three officers and six men of his own staff. In all, 392 men died and another 264 were injured. Because the ship had not been at General Quarters, the hatches were not closed and most of the men lost were those below decks who died of suffocation.

Ray described the aftermath as follows:

"I have three vivid memories after that which probably occurred the next day or two. One was a makeshift memorial service on the hangar deck. The bodies were all laid out side by side opposite all of the rest of us who could walk as the congregation. Because of the suddenness of the explosion and the delays in getting into the compartments to bring them out many of the bodies were rigid in grotesque positions. As the chaplain conducted the service the bodies were pushed over the side one by one. It really made me think! And wonder! And pray!

"At another time I had an opportunity to climb through the pilots' quarters near the front of the vessel not far from the pilots' Ready Room. It was clear that some of our shipmates showing no respect and a lot of greed had looted dead or missing pilots' quarters of personal belongings. It made me extremely mad.

"I also had a chance to look at the wreckage of the Jap 'Judy' dive bomber which was the second plane to hit us and whose engine and other parts ended up at the juncture of the flight deck and superstructure, right over the C.I.C. Onlookers were taking various fragments as souvenirs. My choice was a small piece of metal with red paint. It was from the "rising sun" painted on the wings. That was the only physical memento I cared to keep. (I have kept it to this day as a reminder of my good fortune to have survived).

"The shocker for those of us studying and pondering the wreckage was this. And I don't remember if I actually saw it or if I was told - the dead pilot's finger had a University of Michigan ring on it!!!!

"My good fortune was even more keenly felt when I learned later that the first plane that hit our planes aft on the flight deck dropped his 500 pound bomb right over the location of the torpedo bay and my sack!

"I really cannot recall any other details including my activities in the days following the bombing. Our C.I.C. had been hit hard and was out of commission. Almost everyone who had been on watch at the time was killed or wounded. How lucky I was to have been off duty at the time!"

The Bunker Hill was saved. She limped back to the States, arriving on June 3rd for repairs. Ray stayed with the ship until June 19 when he was given a leave. Realizing life was too short and precious, he wasted no time in marrying Mary Lou a week later on June 27 at Trinity Congregational Church in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

Mary Lou, of course, was thrilled. She wrote about the wedding and honeymoon in a paper she titled, "Honeymoon Beginnings."

"I will always remember the summer of 1945 as one of the most wonderful and most beautiful summers of my life. It began for us on June 27th when we stood at the altar and took our marriage vows. We had decided to get married on the previous Saturday so the next few days were hectic with preparations... Remember the beautiful cake that Dad was so proud of? As soon as it arrived it was set on the kitchen floor in a big box. Mittens [pet cat] immediately jumped on it and sank into the frosting. Alice [Overmire] and Nancy [Fast] spent the rest of the day repairing the damage and they really did a good job... Finally everything was ready and you preceded me to the church. I had told you I would wear a street length dress but to surprise you I bought a full length white dress. I had to try hard to keep from smiling when I saw the expression on your face as I came down the aisle... I wasn't particularly frightened I guess; I had been too busy to think about that. I was very happy however. It was a very beautiful ceremony and the vows which I took that day I will always keep."

Ray and Mary Lou spent their honeymoon night in a suite at the Cleveland Hotel, then proceeded to St. Simons, Georgia, a tiny resort town on an island off the Atlantic coast, taking a room in the Sunshine Inn. Ray had been sent to St. Simons to receive Fighter Director training. They both returned to the Bunker Hill in late August.

"On the way back to the repaired ship in August, VJ DAY was declared and I thanked the Good Lord that we wouldn't have to invade Japan."

After one month together at the Bremerton Naval Shipyard, Mary Lou returned to Ohio Wesleyan, while Ray's ship ferried troops home - from Pearl Harbor to the west coast. From Nov. 9 - Feb. 18, Ray was posted at the Grosse Isle Naval Air Station near Detroit. On his birthday in 1946, he reflected on the significance of the war and what it meant to those who survived:

"Sam [Tretheway] was killed in this war; so were a lot of other Sams. Who is to say I deserved to live more than Sam? Certainly not I! …Sam deserved to survive this war more than any other serviceman I know, as far as I'm concerned. But Sam's gone. Others of us were more fortunate. I don't know why - I guess luck had a lot to do with it. And I won't discredit the possibility that God had something to do with it. But the reason that some are dead and others are living isn't the important thing! The important thing is that those of us who are left and for whom these others gave their own precious lives must seize this life we still have and utilize it in the most effective way possible to further the cause of righteousness, justice, and PEACE! God help me to find ways of making my life count."

In March of '46, Ray, now 23 years old, was discharged from the Navy. He returned to Ohio Wesleyan to finish his schooling and immediately got back into the swing of college life by joining the track team. In a meet at OWU that spring Ray competed in the 220-yard hurdles against future Olympic champion Harrison Dillard of Baldwin-Wallace. Ray "got whooped" as he put it, and no wonder; Dillard tied the world record that day with a time of 22.3. Dillard later won Olympic golds in the 100 yard dash in 1948 and the hurdles in 1952 and was regarded as the greatest hurdler of his era.

Ray's athletic pursuits came to an abrupt end in November of his junior year (1946) when he was stricken with polio in his abdomen and right thigh. He recovered, but the disease left him with some permanent muscle damage. He walked with a limp ever afterward and could not run. Though he must have had to deal with quite a bit of discomfort and pain over the years, Ray never let on or complained. "Don't fret the small stuff," became his life's philosophy.

Despite the setbacks, Ray continued to be active in campus affairs. He was President of the Student YMCA, member of the Omicron Delta Kappa honorary and the Phi Society.

At one point, Ray was instrumental in organizing an inter-racial fraternity, probably one of the first in America.

"In college blacks were barred from my fraternity, but I helped others organize a new interracial fraternity on campus. I decided not to switch fraternities in order to help desegregate my own. (I think it happened a few years later). As President of the Student YMCA at Ohio Wesleyan (1946-7), we had no membership restrictions."

Ray and Mary Lou both graduated with the class of '48. Ray's degree was in sociology/economics. He debated whether or not to go for a masters, but financial problems got in the way. Instead, he went to work as a YMCA Boys Secretary in Alliance, Ohio.

Ray believed the Y could be an effective organization to promote peace and brotherhood in the world through the application of Christian values. He knew that race was a divisive issue in America, that there was racial injustice, so he worked to provide opportunities for the underprivileged. He wanted to bring people of diverse backgrounds together. At Alliance, for example, he started the first Gra-Y club in a black elementary school. (Gra-Y was a program for Grade school age kids.)

Probably the most momentous thing that happened to Ray and Mary Lou in Alliance, however, was the birth of their first of three children.

In 1951, Ray took a new job as Boys Secretary of the Monroe branch of the Rochester YMCA. Two years later he moved to the Central branch as Youth Work Secretary. He loved working with youth. He directed Day Camping and led Gra-Y and Hi-Y (high school age) programs.

Ray spent ten wonderful years in Rochester, and again did his part to support minorities. He hired the first black office secretary at the Y, helped a young black man enter Springfield College, and assisted an integrated Gra-Y club in electing a black "King Arthur" of their Knights of the Roundtable program. His department also organized the first Street Gang program to work with delinquent and pre-delinquent boys of different races to keep them off the street and on the road to responsible behavior.

"While there [in Rochester] the 'Y' began to allow women and girls to swim in our pool. Oh, how some of the men hated the idea of having to wear swim suits! One day the instructor let a ladies class into the pool before the last man got out. He refused to wear a suit but when he was caught he didn't panic. He climbed out, wrapped a towel around his head, and calmly walked out."

Moving up the executive ladder, in 1961 Ray accepted a challenging job as General Secretary at the Xenia, Ohio, YMCA. It was a largely administrative job. The Y was in serious financial difficulty, so bad the local banks began foreclosure proceedings against the Y itself. Ray successfully led a "Save the Y" program raising $200,000. At a time of increasing racial tensions in the early sixties, Ray was proud to work with three black gentlemen on the Board of Directors.

In 1965, the family moved again, this time to Huntington Woods, Michigan. Ray had accepted a job as Executive Director of the Downtown Branch of the Detroit Metropolitan YMCA. He supervised a $510,000 budget and had a nine-man staff. In a year and a half, he turned an $18,000 deficit into a $16,000 surplus. He guided the development of community youth centers and a large street gang program. He was also the first at that Y to hire African-Americans in key leadership positions - as Youth Director and Physical Director.

The Vietnam War raged during these years and the Civil Rights movement gained momentum. In 1967, racial tensions exploded into rioting in Detroit. After five days of chaos, 43 people lay dead, 1189 injured and over 7000 people had been arrested. Despite the danger, Ray went into work during that difficult time to help out as best he could.

In 1968, Ray took a new job as Executive Director of the Family Y in Lorain, Ohio. In the years that followed, Ray continued to work for progressive ideals. He helped to make the Y co-ed, allowing women to sit on the Board of Directors for the first time. In fact, they had the first (or second?) female YMCA President in the state. A Jewish Rabbi and a Catholic priest also sat on the Board. Ray also hired the first black maintenance man and the first black Youth Director at that Y.

In a 1979 article for the Lorain Journal, Ray talked about the importance of the YMCA:

"I've always felt the Y is the greatest organization there is to bring people together, not just families but people of diverse backgrounds. Strengthening families is one of the Y goals.

"We're concerned about the situation where children don't seem to have the support of their parents and I also see the Y as a strong ecumenical force in the community. I remember the way it once was and when Pope John lifted the ban on Roman Catholics belonging to the Y, it was great. You know, Father (Joseph) Step (pastor of St. Peter Church in Lorain) is now on our board…

"We probably serve somewhere between 17,000 and 18,000 people a year. And the cross section includes everyone from kids who can afford full fees to those who can't afford a thing. We have two buses and we pick them up - they wouldn't have any other way to get here - from schools in the poorer districts so they can enjoy programs at the Y…The Y is for everybody."

Ray would remain at the Lorain Y until he retired in 1989. He summed up his Y career with a sense of accomplishment:

"During my forty-one years of Y.M.C.A. service I have tried to emphasize the importance of character building group work and 'bridge building' interracial and inter-faith activities among youth and adults, much of which has taken a back seat in many Y.M.C.A.'s particularly in the last twenty years.

"I felt called to the 'Y' as a career because of my love for sports and working with kids. Although I had many disappointments I got a tremendous amount of satisfaction from my efforts."

Ray was always active in church and community work as well. He was a Church Elder for Northminster Presbyterian in Lorain, a member of the Rotary Club, the Clergy Association, and the United Way.

Within a year after retirement, Ray had three operations, including triple-bypass surgery, but he recovered and was not really hampered by heart trouble again until his final days.

He and Mary Lou were very active in school reunions at both Huntington and Ohio Wesleyan. They maintained lasting and meaningful relationships with their school friends and Y colleagues over many, many years. Ray took great pride in the fact that his friend Gene Overholt, with whom he played football at Huntington, became President of Kiwanis International in 1990, and his little brother at Ohio Wesleyan, Cliff Dochterman, became President of Rotary International in 1992.

Ray was very concerned about the well-being of the OWU Ohio Beta chapter of his fraternity and, in his spare time, helped them to raise funds to make much-needed improvements. In 1993, he was inducted into the Golden Legion of the Fraternity.

Ray and Mary Lou moved into the Bristol Village retirement center in Waverly, Ohio, in 1995 and began a whole new lifestyle. Naturally, they soon became very involved in their new community and joined the Grace United Methodist Church. Ray, always a lover of Glenn Miller, formed the S.P.E.B.B.M.I.A. or Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Big Band Music in America, which hosted some very popular dances at the Village.

The events of 9/11 and the escalating violence in the Middle East were very disturbing for this World War II veteran, who had seen so much death and destruction. He often wrote letters to the editor calling for dialogue and diplomacy to work out our differences. He formed a peace group in Bristol Village as well.

The last years of Ray's life were incredibly challenging, but he always maintained a positive attitude. Mary Lou was stricken with Alzheimer's and had to be placed in a nursing facility in 2001. Ray did all he could to take care of her needs visiting her twice a day, despite the fact that his own health continued to decline. His earlier polio once again had serious repercussions to the point where he couldn't walk anymore and was confined to a motorized wheelchair. Still, he managed to live independently in his house until the summer of 2007 when an accident forced him into an assisted living situation and, finally, nursing home care. Fortunately, his new room was just a short distance away from Mary Lou's unit. He continued to devote his time and energy to her care.

It was very difficult emotionally for Ray to see Mary Lou progressively deteriorate year after year until, finally, she didn't seem to know him anymore. She caught bronchitis in January of 2008 and declined very rapidly. Ray meanwhile had been hospitalized for an operation to treat a wound infection on his ankle, which had been festering for months. As he was recovering, Mary Lou's situation grew steadily worse. It was no surprise that he was faithfully at her side for the last couple of days, holding her hand and giving her comfort until she passed peacefully on Jan. 26.

Ray was foggy and incoherent the very next day. The stress and grief at losing Mary Lou must have overwhelmed him. On Tuesday, Jan. 29, he looked so bad they sent him to the hospital in critical condition where he was diagnosed with congestive heart failure with underlying pneumonia. Fortunately, his condition stabilized in time for his 85^th birthday, Jan. 30. His three children and their families, meanwhile, came from all parts of the country to be there with him. They held the memorial service on Friday for Mary Lou at Bristol Village. Ray couldn't possibly attend, but he received visitors at the hospital afterward. This was Ray's last good day. He was in good spirits and made a point to thank everyone and tell them how much they meant to him and Mary Lou.

After everyone left, however, Ray's health took a severe turn for the worse. He wasn't eating and drifted in and out of consciousness. Over the next five days and nights, his children held a heart-rending vigil at his bedside, expecting that any moment could be his last. Yet Ray fought to live. His iron will refused to capitulate, but his body gradually shut down.

On Monday Feb. 4, Ray realized, somewhat incredulously, that it was indeed the end. He asked for the time and what day it was, probably thinking this was the day he would die. He sensed the somber mood in the room and exclaimed, "This is a happy day!" One of the five pastors who was ministering to Ray suggested that if there was anything else he wanted to do with his family, this would be the time. Ray must have considered this for a bit, because a short time later, he roused himself up in his bed, calling out for everyone to lift their voices and sing! A large crowd gathered in the room and sang whatever songs came to mind, hymns like Amazing Grace and other crazy tunes of yesteryear like Davey Crockett and The Old Apple Tree in the Orchard. Ray vigorously conducted all the while, waving his arms high in the air, expending every last bit of strength he had. When one song would end, he would cry out "What else you got?! C'mon, sing!" Those who witnessed it were truly amazed. No doubt the story of Ray's "last hymn-sing" will be retold often in those parts in times to come. After about a half hour, though, Ray's energy was finally depleted and he sank back into unconsciousness. That was his last hurrah.

Ray passed away three days later about 7:45 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 7, 2008. There was something fitting somehow that he and Mary Lou would pass so soon together.

According to his wishes, Ray was cremated. His and Mary Lou's ashes were mixed and they were buried together in Ridge Hill Cemetery in Amherst, Ohio, just down the road from their former house at 5606 Williamsburg Drive in Lorain. His grave marker reads, "God knows I'm third", a reference to the adage, "God is first, my fellow man is second and I am third."

On the Bunker Hill, Ray vowed to do the work of two men, in honor of his buddy Sam Tretheway. He wanted to live a life worthy of his forebears, in accordance with his Christian principles and moral values. He wanted to work for peace and brotherhood in our troubled world. He succeeded in all these things. He truly did give his all in service to God and his fellow man. Moreover, he was a devoted and loving husband and father who took care of his wife to the very end and helped his children and grandchildren whenever he could.

He was deeply loved.

Raymond Edwin Overmire, Jr., was a truly honorable man with great integrity, a remarkable achievement in an age when such men have become increasingly rare.

-----------------------------






Sources:
1) USS Bunker Hill website:
http://www.bunker-hill.navy.mil/cv17.html
2) For photograph of the burning Bunker Hill, May 11, 1945:
http://www.bluejacket.com/bunker_hill.jpg
3) Recollections of Ray and Mary Lou Overmire, videotape
4) "The Making of a Square, the Memoirs of Ray Edwin Overmire," By R. E. Overmire, Sr., self-published, ca. 1980.
5) "Local Ensign Escaped Death Aboard Flaming Bunker Hill," article from the Richmond Palladium, excerpt in "The Making of a Square."
6) "Kamikaze pilot's keepsakes finally find way to his family," by Bob Egelko, article from The San Diego Union-Tribune, Pages A3-4, Friday, Mar. 30, 2001.
7) Admiral Marc A. Mitscher
http://www.allstar.fiu.edu/aerojava/mitscher.htm
8) "Overmire Ties National Record," probably Huntington Herald Press, date unknown
9) Huntington Herald Press, Wednesday, July 16, 1941 (Bicycle trip)
10) "Cyclist Stops Here on 620 Mile Trip," Wabasha County Herald Standard, July 17, 1941 (Bicycle trip)
11) Letter to the Editor, by Ray E. Overmire, Jr., Chillicothe Gazette, 17 Jun 2003
12) 1930 census, Lima, Allen, Ohio; Roll: 1747; Enumeration District: 29; Image: 282.0, Ancestry.com
13) The Sons of Camelot, by Lawrence Leamer, William Morrow & Co, Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., 2004
14) BROTHERHOOD - Y.M.C.A. STYLE, paper written by Ray E. Overmire, Jr., Sept. 26, 2005
15) "Before Chicago Had Rex, Huntington had Rex, by Paul Siegfried, The Herald-Press, Huntington Co., Indiana, Friday January 13, 2006, Section B, Page 1
16) "Huntington High Gridders Overwhelm Garrett, 58-0," article in an unknown Indiana newspaper, abt. October 1940
17) "Viking Fans call Grossman, Overmire Touchdown Twins," article in The Wayne Journal Gazette, abt October 1940
18) "Huntington Proves Its Power, Defeating Central Team, 20-7," by Ben Tenny, Fort Wayne Sentinel, 24 Oct 1940
19) "Overmire and Grossman Are Highest Grid Scorers in State," article in unknown newspaper, 1940
20) "Vikings Crush Marion Giants Under Top-Heavy 58-13 Score," article in an unknown Indiana newspaper, 1940
21) "Overmire Runs Wild to Count All Five Touchdowns Against Wabash," Wabash Plain Dealer, 28 Sep 1940
22) 60 Year Anniversary, Chillicothe Gazette, June 24, 2005 (Wedding location and officiating Rev.)
23) "My Foxhole in the Sea," recollections of Ray E. Overmire Jr. of the attack by kamikazes on the Bunker Hill, written about May 1995
24) Last Letter Home of Isao Matsua, Flying Petty Officer 1st Class, 701st Air Group, 23 years old, 11 May1945, obtained by Jim Showalter, a survivor of the attack; he was a storekeeper in S-1 Division, source: U.S. Naval Institute, Annapolis, Maryland, from files of Ray E. Overmire, Jr.
24) West Virginia's WWII dead or missing, Samuel F. Tretheway is listed.
http://www.wvculture.org/hiStory/wvww2l-z.html
25) LORAIN'S RAY OVERMIRE: HIS MISSION IS PEACE, He's General Director of the Local Family Y, by Bob Cotleur, Journal Staff Writer, The Journal, Lorain, Ohio, Sunday February 25, 1979, page 5, (transcribed by Larry Overmire, May 2007)
26) U.S.S. Bunker Hill, Aircraft Carrier Photo Index, Website 2007
http://www.navsource.org/archives/02/17.htm
27) Obituary of Raymond E. Overmire, Jr., LorainCounty.com, 2008
http://www.loraincounty.com/obituaries/?i=5357
28) Obituary of Raymond E. Overmire Jr., Chillicothe Gazette, 8 Feb 2008
http://www.chillicothegazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080208/OBITUARIES/80208004/1023
29) Obituary of Raymond E. Overmire, Jr. and Mary Lou Overmire, The Herald-Press, Huntington Co., IN
http://www.h-ponline.com/articles/2008/02/11/obituaries/005overly_0209.txt
30) Obituary of Raymond E. Overmire, Jr., The Xenia Gazette, OH
http://www.xeniagazette.com/main.asp?SectionID=4&SubSectionID=10&ArticleID=158343&TM=34360.93
31) Bio/Resume of Ray E. Overmire, Jr. (post-retirement), by Ray E. Overmire, Jr., 24 Sep 1989, Note: this document or one like it may have been submitted by Ray to I.A.R.D. [International Association of Retired Directors of YMCAs]
32) My Baby's Book, A Record of Interesting and Important Events re: Ray E. Overmire, Jr., by Lillian Tifft Overmire (includes christening information; Ray Jr. was 8 lbs. 2 1/2 oz. at birth)
33) Letter to Ray E. Overmire, Jr., from Clifford L. Dochterman, Rotary International, President, 1992-1993, 762 Augusta Dr., Moraga, CA 94556, 12 Nov 2007 [Note: Ray was Cliff's Big Brother in the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity]
34) Letter to President Reagan, by Ray E. Overmire, Jr., draft of letter to President Ronald Reagan, not sent, about 1987
35) Letter to the Editor, Oct. 24, 2003, by Ray E. Overmire Jr.
36) Obituary of Raymond E. Overmire, Jr., The Morning Journal, 8 Feb 2008
http://www.morningjournal.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19275464&BRD=1699&PAG=461&dept_id=46369&rfi=6
37) Certificate of election into the Huntington County Sports Hall of Fame, presented by Huntington Police Athletic League to Ray Overmire in recognition of outstanding sports competition in football, 26 June 1976, William H. Ott, chairman, George Frye, Secretary (Ray's name is permanently enshrined at the P.A.L. Recreation Center, Huntington, IN)
38) "1882-1982: Happy Birthday to Lorain's Family Y," The Lorain Journal, Sunday, May 16, 1982
39) "We have been blessed in not losing any of our three precious children," excerpt from "The Making of a Square," by Ray E. Overmire, Sr., Vol 3, p. 66-67
40) Kiyoshi Ogawa bio, from Wikipedia, 2008
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiyoshi_Ogawa
41) Speech by Howard Strauch at the induction of Ray Overmire Jr. into the Golden Legion of the Fraternity, 11 Sep 1993
42) Birthday essay, by Ray E. Overmire, Jr., 30 Jan 1946 (Ray would write an annual essay on his birthday to assess the past year of his life, what he achieved and what he still wanted to accomplish)
43) Letter to his parents, by Ray E. Overmire, Jr., 9 May 1945
44) "1945- My Favorite Year", by Ray E. Overmire, Jr., includes excerpts from letters during that period.
45) Videotaped interview with Ray and Mary Lou Overmire, conducted by Laurence Overmire, 25 Dec. 2001, Deer Creek State Park, Ohio
46) "It's Been a Great Time to be Alive - and I've been a Very Lucky Guy," speech by Ray E. Overmire, Jr., to Rotary Club, Apr. 25, 1996.

• Married: 27 Jun 1945 in Trinity Congregational Church, Cleveland Heights, OH (by Rev. Theodore Frank)
• Change Date: 10 Jul 2008

1. Living Overmire
2. Living Overmire
3. Baby Overmire b: Abt 1954
4. Living Overmire

1. Media: Website
   Abbrev: Overmire Tifft Richardson Bradford Reed
   Title: The Ancestry of Overmire, Tifft, Richardson, Bradford, Reed
   Author: Larry Overmire
   Publication: RootsWeb World Connect Project, © 2000-2007
   Date: 3 May 2007