Bill Overstreet

William D. "Bill" Overstreet was an American teacher, administrator, and polictican. He served as the mayor of Juneau, Alaska from 1976 to 1983. He was born and raised in Waynoka, Oklahoma. He died in Sun City West, Arizona on April 8, 2013 at the age of 87.

Bill Overstreet was born on May 1, 1926 in Waynoka, Woods County, Oklahoma, to Henry Harrison and Mary Ellen Overstreet. In 1942, at the age of 17, he quit school, enlisted in the U.S. Navy and was ordered to serve on the USS Portland, where he was involved in the Aleutian Islands Campaign, going ashore at Adak, and the Battle of the Pips. He manned a 20-millimeter machine gun on the Portland's deck. Overstreet was discharged from the Navy in 1942, after which he returned to Waynoka, earned his GED, and enrolled at Northwestern Oklahoma State University in Alva, Oklahoma. While attending the university, he married Jean Perry on May 25, 1947. They had one son, William Overstreet, Jr. After Overstreet graduated in 1951, his family moved to Colorado, where he worked as a history teacher at Huerfano County High School in Walsenburg.

While working as a history teacher in Colorado, Overstreet was urged by his sister and a cousin who lived in Juneau to come teach in Alaska. After researching the state, he wrote then-superintendent Sterling Sears, to relay his interest for a job. After moving to Juneau, he worked a few odd jobs, including construction work on Harborview School and a Stream Guard in Haines, Alaska, before he went to teach at Fifth Street School. For five years, Overstreet taught eighth grade and coached basketball at the school. While taking a sabbatical to advance his own education, Overstreet received his master's degree from the University of Washington. With this additional degree, he went on to be principal of Fifth Street School and, eventually, superintendent of the Juneau School District. Overstreet was also the first executive director for the Alaska School Board Association. After dedicating 20 years of his life to education, he retired.

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