Margery Louise Hodson Overmyer

ROCHESTER -Margery Louise Hodson Overmyer, 84, died at 1:28 p.m. Wednesday in the Howard Regional Health System hospital, Kokomo, following a heart attack and a nine-year battle with Parkinson's disease. Mrs. Overmyer was vice president and treasurer of The Sentinel Corporation. She took an active part in the operation of The Rochester Sentinel as Lifestyles editor and in numerous business office positions.

Born July 21, 1924, in South Bend, she was the daughter of Milo George and Florence Weld Hodson. Marge was a 1942 graduate of South Bend Central High School and a 1946 graduate of Indiana University, with an A.B. in English literature. On June 1, 1946, she married Jack K. Overmyer; the couple met while students at IU's Bloomington campus. He survives. She and Jack lived in Indianapolis until 1952, when he became editor of The Sentinel and they moved to Rochester. Today he is president and owner of the newspaper. The Overmyers have lived on the east shore of Lake Manitou in Rochester since 1967. They spent 10 winters on Sanibel Island, Fla., then 15 more in Scottsdale, Ariz.

She was head librarian of the Fulton County Public Library, 1967 to 1969, and also served as president of the library's board of directors. She was founder and first president of Friends of the Fulton County Public Library. Later, she directed arrangements that resulted in demolition of the former Woodlawn Hospital building at Seventh and Pontiac streets so a new library building could be built on the site. A charter member and past president of the Beta Mu chapter of Tri Kappa, Rochester, she was active from 1957 to 1964 in its state organization as province officer and as vice president of the Indiana Council. She was a proud member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority. She also was charter member and first secretary of the Fulton County Round Barn Festival committee in 1971 and a charter member of the board of trustees for public television Channel 34, South Bend-Elkhart. She served two terms as a member of the Alumni Council of Indiana University's School of Arts and Sciences. She was a former member of All Souls Unitarian Church, Indianapolis. Cooking was one of her passions. She shared it with readers of The Sentinel on a regular basis. Her last column, The Good Cooker, appeared on April 16.

Besides her husband, she is survived by three daughters and sons-in-law, Laura and Fred Brown, Howe, Elizabeth and Gary Madlem, Rochester, Sarah and Bill Wilson, Rochester; three grandchildren, Jack Oldroyd, Elkhart, Luke and wife, Nancy Wilson, Waddy, KY, and Hannah Wilson, Loughborough, England; one great-grandson, Drake Browning Wilson, Waddy, KY; a sister, Mrs. Milton (Joann) Meigs, Lake Forest, IL; two sisters-in-law, June Brinkroeger, Rochester, and Jean Hodson, Naples, FL. Preceding her in death were a daughter, Jennifer Overmyer in 1999; a grandson, Robert Nelson in 1989; and a brother, Richard Hodson in 1978

05/25/2022 EJS