Vera Overman Young, 91, after having been ill for the past few months, passed away Friday, November 18th at Foxwood Springs Senior Living Community in Raymore, MO. Vera was born in Anthony, KS on July 26th, 1931 and moved with her parents Walter and Reva Overman to Caldwell, KS at a very young age. She attended all 12 years of school in the Caldwell School system.
Vera and her future husband, Dwight, (Ickey) only lived a half a block apart, but they never really became acquainted until he was 15 and she 14. There was an immediate attraction and they started dating, much to the dismay of her parents. They were inseparable during high school.
Vera loved music and was very active during school playing the violin in orchestra, singing in the choir, girls glee club, trio, a six-member group of girls that sang and performed for various organizations and country schools. She also was a twirler in the high school band and later the Drum Majorette. Her music love also led her to be the Church pianist at the Caldwell Christian Church while in high school.
After high school, Dwight joined the Army and Vera attended Phillips University in Enid, OK. On leave from the army at age 18, Dwight proposed to Vera, age 17, and they were married two years later on February 18th, 1951. They remained happily married for 71 years and 9 months until her passing. Four children were born to this union and Vera became a full-time housewife and care giver.
Vera loved the Lord, church, family, friends, music and collecting. She always made time for church and made sure the children attended Sunday school and church activities every week.
After getting the children to their teenage years, she decided to start selling Avon. She was immediately successful, and became a Team Leader and always a member of the Honor Society. The Avon sales led to one of the many hobbies she and Dwight pursued. Over the years, they joined a local Avon collectors club which Vera became secretary of and later secretary of the National Association of Avon Collectors Clubs, a national organization of over 200 clubs throughout the United States and Canada. During those years, she was invited to Avon headquarters in New York City on three different occasions to discuss the Avon collecting hobby which was very large at that time. During her many years associated with the national organization, she was awarded as the person doing the most to promote the hobby for one year and also the Lifetime Achievement Award on another occasion. Vera was also the editor and publisher of a national publication on Avon collecting for several years as well as assisting in the pricing of Avon collectibles in the Avon Collectors price guide published by Bud Hastin.
Her biggest love in collecting was her teddy bears and music boxes. When it came time to down size and move Vera had accumulated over 2250 teddy bears and over 250 music boxes. That was just a portion of their 26 different collections.
Vera and Dwight loved to travel and made it to all 50 United States, all of Canada, Mexico and 20 plus foreign countries. The most interesting being Russia, China and Australia. Their travel companions almost always included her sister Lois Lebeda and husband Ernie. Dwight and Ernie were lifelong friends from high school. They also made many, many trips to Hawaii over the years. Vera was very outgoing and made many friends throughout her travels.
Vera is preceded in death by her parents, Walter and Reva Overman; son-in-law Alan Lubelan, and sister, Martha Glines
She is survived by her husband Dwight of the home; daughter Vicki of Oxford, MI, Alan (Jeannie) of Shawnee, KS, Larry (Carol) of Cleveland, MO and Jim (Mona) of Raytown, MO. Nine grandchildren and fourteen great grandchildren; and sister, Lois Lebeda of Caldwell, KS. She was dearly loved and will be missed by all.
Funeral Services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, November 26, 2022 at the Central Christian Church in Caldwell with Dr. Dan Price officiating. Interment will follow at the Caldwell City Cemetery.
Memorials may be made to the Central Christian Church, American Cancer Society or to the COPD Foundation and sent in care of the mortuary.
Visitation will be held 8am to 5pm Wednesday and 8am to 8pm on Friday.
