Dr. Marvin Cartmell Overton, active practitioner in Lubbock for 54 years and father of Dr. M.C. Overton Jr., Pampa surgeon, and Philip R. Overton, Austin attorney and general counsel for the Texas Medical Association, died at his home on September 1, 1955 of panmyelosis with fibrosis.
The son of the Rev. George Buck Overton and Susan Louisa Lawson Overton, he was born on June 13, 1878 in Morganfield, Kentucky. He grew up in Louisville where he worked on a newspaper and with the telephone company before deciding to study medicine. His medical degree was obtained from the University of Louisville in 1901.
Opening his general practice in Lubbock after hearing a classmate tell of the scarcity of physicians in West Texas, Dr. Overton ministered to a large area of the state, operating his own drug store for a time and performing the first appendectomy in the city. In more recent years Dr. Overton had specialized in pediatrics, being author of a book entitled "Your Baby and Child". He was one of the owners of Krueger, Hutchinson and Overton Clinic, which was transferred to Methodist ownership last year, and had retired in June because of ill health.
A member of the Texas and American Medical Associations through the Lubbock-Crosby Counties Medical Society throughout his career, he was named to honorary membership in the state organization in 1950. He was a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics and a diplomate of the American Board of Pediatrics.
Dr. Overton aided in development of the first hospital in Lubbock, served as president of the First National Bank there for one year, was an alderman during the construction of the first sewer system, and a member of the school board when the first brick building, old Central Ward School, was erected. He was on the official board of the First Methodist Church throughout his residence in Lubbock. He and Mrs. Overton paid for the construction and furnishing of the Methodist Student Center; he established a loan fund at McMurry College in Abilene which has assisted more than 200 students; and he contributed to other Methodist institutions. For years he gave annual $200 scholarships to the Texas Technological College athletic department for the athlete exercising the greatest influence toward good morale of the football team. He also gave scholarships in the speech department of Texas Tech. He was a long-time member of the Rotary Club loan fund committee and held honorary membership in the club after many years of perfect attendance as a regular member. He also belonged to the Masonic Lodge, Commandery, and Shrine.
Evidence of Dr. Overton's civic activities in Lubbock are the following which bear his name: M.C. Overton Elementary School, Overton Tower of the First Methodist Church, Overton Addition (the first subdivision of Lubbock and developed by Dr. Overton), and the Overton Methodist Church (the site of which was donated by the doctor).
Dr. Overton married Miss Georgia Robertson of Louisville in 1902. Sons Marvin, Philip, Robert and George Buck were born to this union. Mrs. Overton died in 1916 and George Buck Overton in 1923. Dr. Overton married Miss Nannie M. Jennings of Lubbock in 1918, and two daughters were born to them. Surviving are his wife, three sons, two daughters, three sisters and twelve grandchildren, as follows: sons, Dr. Overton, Jr., Philip R. Overton and Robert Overton of Brownsville; daughters, Mrs. William T. West and Mrs. Watson Carlock, both of Lubbock; sisters, Mrs. Edward Hill, Miss Mary B. Overton and Miss Sue L. Overton, all of Dallas. One grandson, Dr. Philip Marvin Overton received his degree in medicine in June and is interning at Parkland Hospital in Dallas; two other grandsons are taking premed courses in college.
Family and friends have established the Overton Memorial Fund for Needy Children, which will be a trust administered by trustees of the Methodist Hospital of Lubbock.
== == == published in the Texas State Journal of Medicine, October 1955. Transcriber is not a relative and has no further information regarding this family.
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