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Strict, firm and disciplined.
Family and friends agree that those three words best describe William “Bo” Overton, whether they were discussing his commitment to doing things the correct way on the athletic field, at the Westhampton Beach firehouse, or in life in general.
Mr. Overton, an Army veteran, a former Westhampton Beach Village Police officer and a 47-year volunteer firefighter, died on Tuesday, May 19, following a nearly year-long battle with cancer. He was 71.
“He didn’t care if people liked him,” Westhampton Beach Fire Department 2nd Assistant Chief Billy Dalton said. “He might not win a popularity contest, but nobody questioned his knowledge when it came down to it.”
Born in Port Jefferson and raised in Westhampton Beach, Mr. Overton graduated in 1962 from Westhampton Beach High School, where he was a letter winner in football, basketball, baseball and track, according to Joanne Penney, who describes herself as Mr. Overton’s longtime partner and loving friend. The two have been together for 40 years.
After graduating, Mr. Overton joined the Army and was stationed in Korea during the beginning of stages of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. He was overseas for two years before returning to the states to serve as a drill sergeant for the final year of his tour.
It was a role that he, arguably, maintained even after he left the military.
“He would be at chemotherapy, looking at his watch and telling them to hurry up the treatment so he could make it back to the firehouse for a training drill,” Ms. Penney said.
Immediately after being honorably discharged from the Army, Mr. Overton joined the Westhampton Beach Village Police in 1965. He earned his associate degree in police science from Suffolk County Community College and graduated from the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia. He worked his way up to the rank of sergeant before retiring in 1998.
He joined the fire department in 1968 and served as its chief from 1997 until 1998. Recently, he began navigating the chiefs ranks once again, working his way up to 1st assistant chief at the time of his death.
Mr. Overton was the department’s drill instructor and often led by example. At 70 years old, Mr. Overton participated in the “bail out” drill that the state requires for all firefighters seeking certification to enter burning buildings, Ms. Penney said. This consisted of jumping head first out of a second-story window several times wearing varying amounts of equipment.
“He was very diligent in the work he did in the fire department,” Westhampton Beach Fire Chief Ross Donneson said. “He led by example and he made it a point to go to classes he’s been to over and over again to show that you should always keep working.”
During his final years, Mr. Overton was one of the strongest supporters of the new firehouse, which is currently under construction on Sunset Avenue. Ms. Penney said it was his goal to live to see its completion, which is one of the reasons he continued to battle through chemotherapy despite being diagnosed with metastatic high-grade neuroendocrine carcinoma and given a prognosis of almost no chance of recovery.
“He was on every kind of chemotherapy known to man,” she said. “He still went to the fires up until about a month ago.”
Mr. Overton also volunteered his time in various capacities within the community, including serving as a coach for the Police Athletic League, Little League baseball and Pee Wee football teams in the village through the 1960s, 70s and 80s.
Mr. Donneson, who played Little League baseball under Mr. Overton’s tutelage, said Bo the coach was much like Bo the firefighter: fair but disciplined.
“He was very firm,” Mr. Donneson said. “When I was younger, he was a very strict teacher and educator.”
Mr. Donneson was not the only Westhampton Beach native who appreciated Mr. Overton’s strictness and honesty. Ms. Penney said in the final weeks of his life, Mr. Overton was visited by hundreds, if not a thousand people who met him either as a coach or as a police officer, and they credited him with helping them change their lives for the better.
She said the support continued even after his death, with members of the fire department calling and checking in on her several times a day, providing help without even being asked. She said she can’t express her gratitude enough.
However, she also knows that one day the calls will stop being so frequent and things will get quiet; that’s when she’ll really miss the man who’d talk to her three or four times a day, even when she was traveling abroad.
“I have wonderful memories and he was a gigantic part of my life,” she said. “I’m going to miss him terribly.”
In addition to Ms. Penney, Mr. Overton is survived by his daughter, Erin Overton-Bush of Holbrook, two sons, Patrick Penney of Manorville and Keith Keller of Westhampton, a granddaughter, Erica Overton-Bush, and a brother, James Overton of Westhampton Beach, a former police chief for Southampton Town.
Visitation was held last Friday at the Follett and Werner Funeral Home on Mill Road in Westhampton Beach and Mr. Overton was buried the next day at the Calverton National Cemetery following a ceremony that drew volunteers from departments across the East End.
on May 21, 2015