John Donald Overton transitioned from this life into eternity with Jesus Christ, his Savior, in the afternoon of March 31, 2025.  John was born on November 29, 1931, to Almos Hall Overton and Willie Marie Tolson-Overton in Rison, Arkansas.  John had an older brother, James Lamar Overton.

John met his wife of 70 years, Dorothy Ann Thoma, when he was 14 years old, and she was 13 years old, where they lived at the Arkansas Arsenal near Pine Bluff.  He was a member of the ROTC program at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, where he earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1953.  After graduation, he joined the Air Force.  John and Dot were married in 1954.  After extensive radar and atomic technology training, he was assigned to the Strategic Air Command at Loring Air Force Base near Limestone, Maine, where he served as a Special Weapons Officer.  He was responsible for the teams assigned to storing, moving, and loading thermonuclear weapons onto B-36 and B-52 Strategic Bombers.  Their first son, John Edward (Johnny), was born at Loring in 1955. After that tour of duty was complete, John took a job at Edwards Air Force Base in California, where he worked as an avionics engineer for NACA (predecessor of NASA) on several experimental aircraft, including the X-1 B, F-104, and X-15.  He said that this part of his career was his favorite.  Their second son, William Hall (Billy), was born at Edwards in 1958.  They later moved to Huntsville, Alabama, where he worked in the wind tunnels at the Marshall Space Flight Center.  Their third son, Donald Roy (Donny) was born in Huntsville in 1961.  When John heard that NASA was building a new facility in Houston, Texas, he applied.   While on a business trip to the Space Task Group at Langley, he stopped by the HR department, where the hiring process for the new NASA location was being worked on.   He was in the office where the applications were processed, and while no one was looking, he found his application and moved it to the top of the stack.  Soon after, he was offered the job in Houston.

John moved his family to Houston in 1962 and rented a house in Pasadena, Texas. The following year, while the Manned Spacecraft Center was being built, he designed and contracted for a new home to be built on Plantation Drive in Dickinson. John worked on the Apollo, Shuttle, and Space Station Freedom programs before retiring from NASA. He held several other jobs before returning to work for Boeing as a contractor in payload logistics for the International Space Station program. John finally retired at 79 years of age.

John and his family attended Pine Drive Baptist Church in Dickinson, where he served as a deacon.  He started the Royal Ambassador (RA) program at the church, he became the Galveston Association leader of the RA program for Galveston County for many years.  His passion was teaching young men the good news of Jesus Christ. 

The family has received many condolences, and here is part of one that sums up what most people are saying: ‘He was a great influence on me during my childhood years, and those lessons have helped guide me in my adult life. I know other boys, now men, could say the same. Some of my most adventurous childhood memories involve Mr. Overton—whether through his work with the RAs or during Sunday School at Pine Drive Baptist Church. I can still vividly recall our RA activities: the famous Big Bend backpacking trip, canoeing, kayaking down the Guadalupe and San Marcos rivers, camping on the Dickinson Bayou, or simply camping at Pine Drive Baptist Church. They were all adventurous, fun, and made for lots of memories. And then there was the RA band. I'm not sure Mr. Overton was musically inclined, but he put together a band and was our leader. We were fairly good. I will always remember Mr. Overton.’

Later in life, John and Dot Overton ministered to BARC (Bay Area Recovery Center), where men were transitioning out of prison or recovering from addictive drugs. Through the program that John developed, many young men came to receive Christ as Savior and became contributing members of society. 

John is survived by his wife, Dot, sons Johnny, Billy, and Donny, three daughters-in-law, five grandsons, one granddaughter, three granddaughter-inlaws, two great-granddaughters, two great-grandsons and a great-grand on the way.

John will be remembered as a devoted husband, loving father, and faithful servant of his Lord.  His legacy of love, faith, and service will live on through the countless lives he touched.  A special thank you to The Crossing in League City for the care and compassionate support these last few years