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Wednesday, January 19,2022
dawsonnews.com I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I 3A
Overstreet leaves behind long record of altruism
DCN file photo
Ben Overstreet, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II, par
ticipates in the Veterans Day parade in downtown Dawsonville on Nov. 11, 2017.
Photo courtesy of Dawson County NRCS
Overstreet tells a man about his corn crops.
Overstreet was an avid farmer and conservationist.
by Julia Fechter
jfechter@dawsonnews.com
To know the late
Benjamin Brinson “Ben”
Overstreet was to know
genuine selflessness and
kindness.
“Over the years, he
donated so much time and
effort to improve the com
munity... [for] things that
weren’t a benefit to him
personally, but they were
just good for the communi
ty,” said Louise McPherson
of the USDA’s Natural
Resources Conservation
Service.
Longtime Dawsonville
resident Overstreet, 95,
died peacefully at his home
on Jan. 11, 2022.
Overstreet was born in
Orlando, Florida on
December 4, 1926 to par
ents Samuel Joseph and
Annie Belle Brinson
Overstreet.
His family moved to
Emanuel County, Georgia,
while he was a young boy,
and he graduated from
Emanuel County Institute
in 1942. After that, he
attended North Georgia
College in Dahlonega,
Georgia when the school
was just a two-year college.
After graduating, he
enlisted in the U.S.
Marines during World War
n and served in the Pacific
theater of the conflict, end
ing his service on Chi Chi
Jima in 1947.
He returned to North
Georgia College after the
war and met Mary Joe
Thompson. They wed and
moved to Dawsonville,
where he farmed from
1949 until 2016.
Overstreet farmed com,
soybeans and tall fescue
grass. He raised cattle, hogs
and poultry. His land was
producing 126 bushels of
com per acre in 1956, and
by 1973, he became the
first farmer in Georgia to
produce more than 200
bushels of com per acre.
Throughout the years, he
won over 200 awards from
the state and national com
growers associations. He
and Mary Joe received the
Centennial Family Farm
Award from the
Department of Natural
Resources for continuously
operating a farm that had
been in her family for more
than 100 years.
As an avid conservation
ist of his land and the great
er Etowah Valley, he served
as a volunteer supervisor
for the Upper
Chattahoochee Soil and
Water Conservation
District for 40-plus years.
In 2005, he was inducted
into the Georgia
Association of
Conservation Districts Hall
of Fame.
He also served as the
vice chairman of the
Dawson County Farm
Bureau at one point.
Clark Buesse, a retired
UGA Extension agent for
Dawson County, knew
Overstreet for 35 years
through his job and called
the farmer “probably the
best man I’ve ever known.”
Not only was Overstreet
respected for his conserva
tion and agricultural
knowledge, his character
was also solid.
“He (Overstreet) was
always mild-mannered and
had a concern for his fami
ly and community. I never
heard him say anything bad
about anyone,” Buesse
said.
Fouise McPherson like
wise praised Overstreet’s
passion for teaching people
about conservation and
encouraging youths’ inter
est in farming.
She mentioned his will
ingness to try new conser
vation methods, like plant
ing Coastal Bermuda grass
for his pastures or having
trees moved and anchored
to the banks of the Etowah
River on his property.
“He was one of the first
people around to do no-till
farming...meaning you
didn’t plow your ground
every year,” McPherson
said. “You leave it (crop
remnants) on top of the
ground to protect from ero
sion.”
She explained that
Overstreet would also host
field days for other local
farmers to come and
observe his practices so
they could then return to
their farms and implement
those same measures.
“He cared a lot about
people, and he’d take time
to talk to people,”
McPherson added. “Even
[with] my kids when I was
little, he’d show them his
old seed machine over
there and old tractors...
even though they’re grown
now, they love Mr. Ben.”
Overstreet’s care for peo
ple extended to his advoca
cy to help water service
come to Dawson County
three decades ago.
A 2010 DCN article by
Frank Reddy explained that
Overstreet was a founding
member and vice chairman
of the Etowah Water and
Sewer Authority. In 1980,
the Georgia General
Assembly created the
authority as a political sub
division of the state and a
public corporation. Five
years later, a groundbreak
ing was held for a water
treatment plant and distri
bution plant to serve east
ern Dawson County. The
plant’s service began in
August 1986.
Getting to that point
required an extra amount of
effort by Overstreet and
other board members.
“He literally went door-
to-door selling water
meters and trying to get
people service established,”
Etowah Water and Sewer
president Brooke Anderson
said. “Everything that’s
made Dawson County fan
tastic has been built on the
foundation he laid as a
board member...we all
owe him a huge debt of
gratitude.”
The authority’s board
then spearheaded getting
sewage in the area. The
addition of a wastewater
treatment plant in 1995 to
serve west Dawson ulti
mately convinced the peo
ple with North Georgia
Premium Outlets to locate
the outlet mall in the coun
ty.
“Our county wouldn’t be
what it is today if it wasn’t
for water and sewage,” said
Overstreet in 2010,
“because there’s no way
businesses would have
come here without it.”
Overstreet was likewise a
charter member of the
Dawson County Lions
Club. He also served as a
director of the Dawson
County Bank for a number
of years and continued
after it was acquired by
United Community Bank.
Other organizations he
served for include the
Dawson County Board of
Education and the Etowah
Lodge #222 F & AM,
where he was a member for
50 years. He and Mary Joe
were members of the First
Baptist Church of
Dawsonville.
James Askew, the presi
dent of United Community
Bank in Dawsonville,
called Overstreet one of the
most “common-sense peo
ple I’ve ever met”.
“If you needed to know
something about the com
munity or needed to ask
questions...he’s somebody
that I always valued his
opinion,” Askew said.
Askew remembers
Overstreet as very person
able and charitable, the
kind of person who’d help
crank out hotdogs during
customer appreciation
events or talk to all the
employees and learn their
names when visiting the
bank.
“He had a knowledge of
the community going way
far back that was invaluable
to us,” Askew added.
Ted Bearden, who also
served on the bank board
with Overstreet, reaffirmed
the late man as a “pillar in
the community.”
He also mentioned his
respect for Overstreet and
view of him as a worthy
mentor.
“The only [other] way I
would know to describe
Ben Overstreet was that he
was the ultimate gentle
man,” Bearden said. “His
demeanor was the same
every time you saw him.
He had a smile on his face
and always had a kind
word...I was honored to
call him my friend.”
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Keynote speakers
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John F. King,
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