Mary Norma Overton

Mary Norma (Pounds) Overton passed away peacefully on Sunday, January 10, 2016 at Cottagewood Senior Communities in Rochester. She was born April 9, 1931 in Helena, Arkansas to Ray and Margaret Pounds.She attended Sacred Heart Academy in Helena, AR.Mary and Delos Kenneth Swede Overton were married in December 1948 and together had 11 children.She later returned to school and graduated from Rochester Junior College with an AA degree in Sociology in 1975. Mary was an integral part of planning and opening the first Womens Resource Center in Rochester, MN.She was the groups low income representative.Mary was an important advocate in creating and implementing landlord/tenant laws and successfully had housing codes applied and enforced in not only the city of Rochester but throughout Olmsted County.She participated in writing The Articles of Incorporation for the Womens Shelter and testified on battering at the Minnesota Legislature.She spoke to groups and churches and was a member of the Womens Shelter Board from 1978 through the early 1980s.Mary served on the Advisory Committee for Olmsted County Human Services as a temporary for the Ad Hoc Committee to the Juvenile Justice Status Committee.In 1978, she started working at Southern MN. Regional Legal Services in Winona as a paralegal helping low income residents throughout southeastern MN with unemployment and other government benefit cases.She transferred to the SMRLS office in St. Paul, MN in 1982 and retired in 1994.She moved back to Rochester in June 2009 and began serving on the Olmsted County Human Rights Commission and was active in city council meetings, Rochester Area Free Thinkers and DFL Politics. Mary is survived by her ten children, Ken (Diane) Overton of Rochester, MN., Kerryn (Jim) Brogan of Chatfield, MN., Glennys (Robert) Worden of Chatfield, MN., Robyn Overton of Plainview, MN., Lyssa Overton of Minneapolis, MN., Fredrick Ricky Overton of Elgin, MN., James Kevin Overton of Chatfield, MN., Kim Overton of Fargo, ND., LaVane Craig Overton of St. Paul, MN., and Amanda Overton of St. Paul, MN.; 24 grandchildren; 46 great-grandchildren; 11 great-great grandchildren; 2 sisters, Pat Pounds of Reseda, CA and Carolyn McCarty of Rogers, AR.; and 2 nieces and 1 nephew, Karin, Lee, and A.V. She was preceded in death by her parents, her brother Donald Sonny, her daughter Jennifer, one grandson Rusty and two great granddaughters Brooke and Kearrea. Memorial services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, January 16, 2016 at Ranfranz and Vine Funeral Homes with Celebrant Kathy Diedrich officiating.Visitation will be one hour prior to the service Saturday at Ranfranz and Vine.Burial will be at a later date.