The wisdom that Juanita Overton possessed was more than just common sense. The tidbits and morsels she passed on to her offspring and others in her community came from years of life experience. And not all of those experiences were ones a person would want to recall, her family said.
“She really did live through a lot,” said LaQuita Joyce Kemp, a daughter who lives in Covington. “But even with the things that weren’t good, she took them and turned those things into something else.”
Mrs. Overton was born in Patton, Ala., and orphaned when she was 2 or 3 years old. She had a sister, but was too young to remember her name. After the death of their parents, Mrs. Overton and her sister were separated, never to be reunited. With no adult relatives to speak of, she went into foster care. She had a third-grade education, and never went to college. She married and had six children with her husband, Henry Overton, but he died before his 35th birthday, when their youngest child was 7 months old. She never remarried, but committed herself to raising her children in Rockmart, and teaching them the importance of family, God and a good education.
“She taught us through her experiences,” said Jawana Moyer, a granddaughter who lives in Lithonia. “She wanted us to get with God, have a good education and love each other.”
Juanita H. Overton, of Lithonia, died May 4 at home of natural causes. She was 104. A funeral service is planned for 1 p.m., Friday at Church of Atlanta Lighthouse. Burial will immediately follow at Hillandale Memorial Gardens, Lithonia. Brown & Young Home of Funerals is in charge of arrangements.
Mrs. Overton moved to Atlanta in the early '60s after her youngest child graduated from high school. She spent her days doing domestic work and many evenings teaching Bible study at her home. Her advice was highly sought after, especially by young couples she met through church and the Bible studies, Mrs. Kemp said. And the guidance Mrs. Overton gave was not the garden-variety advice.
“She didn’t just tell a young wife to pray when there was trouble in a marriage,” her daughter said. “No, she’d tell her that she had to spend time with her husband and she couldn’t always run to the church and leave her husband behind.”
When Mrs. Moyer was nervous about getting married when she was 21, her grandmother helped her see the light.
“She didn’t tell me I was too young, she sat me down and listed all of the things she didn’t get to do with her husband,” Mrs. Moyer said. “She said she wished she could have done those things, but that I had the chance and I should take it. And now my husband and I have celebrated 23 years of marriage.”
Family was so fiercely important to Mrs. Overton because she didn’t grow up with any blood-relatives. She taught her children to love and care for each other, and she made them promise they would never put her in a nursing home. Though she outlived all three of her sons, the seeds she planted to create a new family tree paid off, said Annie McKibbins, a daughter who lives in Lithonia.
“She basically had to start her family tree from scratch,” Mrs. McKibbins said. “When it was all said and done, she had 117 grands, counting all of the generations. And she taught so all of us, and so many of them, with just her third-grade education.”
Mrs. Overton is also survived by her eldest daughter, Jean Hosch of Conyers; 26 grandchildren; 50 great-grandchildren; and 41 great-great-grandchildren.
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