William H. Overstreet was born in Roanoke on March 10, 1944 and has spent most of his life in the Roanoke Valley area, except for a few years down the road in Blacksburg. Bill first met his wife Peggy at a church youth camp in North Carolina and then years later became reacquainted while Peggy worked at Virginia Tech, and they’ve been married for 56 years.

Growing up, Bill had a fascination with the “muscle cars” of the times and wanted to be an automotive engineer to design them. He left the Virginia Tech mechanical engineering program after three years because he ran out of money! He went back to Roanoke to work in the mechanical engineering, design, and construction industry and said he could never have imagined what a gift from God that decision would be. He finished his undergraduate degree through an accelerated program at Averett University. His influencers as a child include his Boy Scout leader, who taught Bill reliance, perseverance, integrity, teamwork, and hard work. He demonstrated an exemplary lifestyle. Today, Bill is influenced by pastors and bible scholars that he hears and reads, as they talk about the necessity of living a Godly life in the world today.

Another influencer for Bill was his manager at The Branch Group, who conducted his business with integrity and invested in his employees. Bill ended up working for the GJ Hopkins business unit of The Branch Group for 28 years, and actually helped build The Glebe property, which is when he first found out about the community. Peggy and Bill moved to The Glebe in 2017. The decision to move was in part due to Bill’s worry of continuing to maintain a home as they got older, but also, they came to realize that they needed to be proactive about making good choices for their future, as they have no children or relatives to look out for them. They are happy to have the team at The Glebe as their caretakers!

Living in a community means being in an environment of wonderful neighbors and great team members, all of whom care for and show concern for each other. It means they have the freedom and the time to be able to devote their energies to serving others rather than looking after a home. In 2019, Bill was asked by the previous Vesper coordinator, resident Rev. John Fox, to take over the responsibility of arranging services for the Sunday Vesper services held each week. Bill contacts local pastors and coordinates schedules for these services. He also prepares the service particulars, making agendas for attendees and posting the week’s Vesper schedule in locations around the community.

During the pandemic, Bill arranged to have pastors come into The Glebe to have a Vesper message tape recorded – with the help of Mark Deardorf and Larry Fischbach – for viewing through the in-house channel. Bill included hymns into the service schedule. Also, during this time, Bible teachers were not able to be at The Glebe for their normal Bible Study classes. So, Bill did a Bible Study that was aired each Thursday afternoon throughout the community.Bill is a member of the Spiritual Life Committee. At the request of past and the current chaplain, he assists in providing devotions for residents in each of the higher levels of care. Several residents asked Bill if it would be possible to start a “Christian-themed” movie night. So, the first Saturday evening of the month was chosen for this event. This started in 2019 and resumed with the lifting of covid restrictions in early 2020. Across the community, Bill can frequently be seen going to different apartments on request to check on, fix, or adjust items as needed. He has become the “unofficial – unpaid maintenance” person! He has worked on everything from computers, printers, TVs to lamps and sewing machines, helping his neighbors with their needs.

At the request of the Marketing Department or a resident, he happily makes shelves for residents who do not have one outside their apartment door. He tries to be helpful in whatever capacity is needed for residents, such as making picture frames, small stands or shelves for residents’ use inside their apartment; transporting a resident to/from medical appointments, delivering groceries, receiving and delivering in-house and USPS mail as well as taking packages to the local post office for shipping, and taking trash to the trash room for residents who need assistance.

As far as activities away from The Glebe, he served in leadership roles in his local church and in the State association for his church. He has taught Bible classes for over 40 years. After his retirement, he chose to do maintenance work at his church on a volunteer basis. He is co-leader for a monthly lunch/information meeting for senior adults.

Bill has been a member of The Gideons International for over 40 years, currently serving and having served in multiple local and state leadership roles. In 2011, Bill participated in a distribution of Scriptures in the Philippines. This was and is still the largest distribution in the history of the Gideons (began in 1898) – giving out over 1.6 million copies of Scripture in just 10 days.

When asked what he is most proud of, Bill asked to rephrase the question and instead answer, what are you most thankful for? His answer: “I’m thankful for the life and health God has given me. I’m thankful for my Christian wife. I’m thankful for the opportunities we have had such as visiting all 50 states. I’m thankful for being able to go on two overseas mission trips and what I experienced on those occasions. I’m thankful for the people I’ve had the opportunity to meet and work with over the years, I’m thankful for the great company I worked for and the opportunities it provided. I’m thankful to know so many great people, neighbors, here at The Glebe.”

Bill’s motto is as Jesus says: to love our neighbors as ourselves. That is Bill’s philosophy and goal as a member of The Glebe community. He hopes to be able to serve other people for as long as he is able to do so.

“Thank you – to all our wonderful Glebe community for this tremendous honor. I want to tell you how surprised and humbled I was to be nominated and selected for the Influencer Award. I hope to continue to serve you for years to come.”