Fan celebrating 100th birthday with Zags
Bjarne Overlie will celebrate his 100th birthday on Saturday. No need to wonder where he’ll spend his big day. He’ll be at McCarthey Athletic Center watching the Gonzaga Bulldogs play. He hasn’t missed a regular season home game since the new center opened.
Though he was born in Pasco, Overlie said, “I’m a full-blooded Norwegian Viking.” His parents immigrated to the United States in the early 1900s. Born in 1908, Overlie was the first of their six children. With thick hair and an accurate recall of people and places, his age comes as a surprise to many. His father worked for the Northern Pacific Railroad and moved the family to Montana. “My dad had a friend who was a druggist,” Overlie recalled. “He talked Dad into quittin’ the railroad and going to farming. My gosh, my dad took the bait!” he said, and shook his head.
The family homesteaded in the heart of buffalo country. When Overlie was 7 years old, he started school and had to learn a new language. “We lived in a Norwegian community. I didn’t know a word of English until I started school.”
Life on the homestead was full of hard work and frequent disappointment. Overlie said, “We had a few years of pretty doggone good crops. Then by gosh, by the time World War I came about, it seemed like it didn’t rain. Then the grasshoppers moved in.”
His father took the family back to Pasco in 1922 and returned to railroad work. Unfortunately, he was plagued by ill health and spent a lot of time in the hospital.
When Overlie was 16, he, too, started working for the railroad. “I went to school half the year and worked half the year. I was determined to get a diploma, no matter what.” He was equally determined to ensure his five younger siblings graduated.
He traces his love of sports back to that time. The athletic Norwegian lettered in football, track, basketball and baseball. Overlie was 21 when he finally received his diploma. “It took me that long,” he said. He’s proud of his hard-earned diploma but even more proud of the fact that he helped all of his siblings through school as well.
Like his father before him, Overlie is a railroad man. His home in north Spokane is easy to spot because of the railroad switch in the front yard.
It was railroad and his love for oyster stew that helped him meet his future bride. The crew he supervised had its own cook, but she didn’t make his favorite dish – oyster stew. Each time the crew moved to a new location, he designated a fellow to scout out the local restaurants and find the best oyster stew. One evening Overlie and his co-workers entered a restaurant in Plains, Mont. Their waitress was a dimpled beauty named Hildred James. The fellows were in a hurry to get to a dance, so one of the guys took his cup and saucer with him. “He hadn’t finished his coffee,” said Overlie with a chuckle.
The next weekend they returned. The owner of the establishment greeted them at the door, “Hey! You guys are the ones that stole my dishes,” she said. “No, ma’am,” Overlie replied. “We only borrowed them.” He presented her with the freshly washed cup and saucer. Again, James served them. Later that evening, Overlie escorted her to a dance. On Jan. 15, 1938, less than a year after they met, the pair married.
In 1955, he accepted the position of division road master for the railroad and moved with Hildred and their two sons, Vaughn and Earl, to Spokane. He’s been an ardent Zags fan ever since.
Hildred died in 2001. “She got Alzheimer’s,” Overlie said, running a trembling hand across their wedding picture. “I took care of her as long as I could, here at home.” His son Vaughn said that Overlie went to see his wife every day when she had to be moved to North Central Care Center.
“The only hard part is that I lost my partner,” said Overlie. “You get attached to someone after 63 years.”
He still lives in the home they bought in 1957. His son moved in with him after retiring from his teaching career.
Overlie ushered a visitor to the back of the house, maneuvering with the help of a cane. “This used to be a sewing room, but I don’t sew,” he said. “So, I converted it to a railroad room.” A large model train set with a complex system of tacks and switches fills the room. A flick of a switch and the train rumbles to life and chugs around the tracks.
His lifelong interest in railroading and his enthusiasm for college sports keep Overlie active. He still works in his woodshop next to the house and drove his own car until he turned 97.
He jokingly attributed his long life to White Horse Scotch. But as he reflected on a century of living he said, “I wasn’t a guy who just sits around.”
You won’t find Bjarne Overlie reclining in his easy chair sipping coffee on his 100th birthday. He’ll be at the Kennel with thousands of other fans, rooting for the Bulldogs.