Mary Pat (Green) Eaves

Mary Pat (Pippy) Eaves (73), of Overton passed away peacefully, surrounded by her loving family, on Wednesday, December 25, 2019 in Tyler, Texas.

Mary Patricia Green was born on April 4, 1946 in Dallas, Texas to Newlyn D. and Nell Owen Green. Raised in Oak Cliff, she graduated from Adamson High School in 1964. While attending The University of Texas at Austin, Mary Pat met Don Eaves, whom she married on July 22, 1966.  Mary Pat and Don had two daughters, and lived in Jacksonville, Florida, and Dearborn, Michigan, prior to moving to Houston,Texas in 1974. While in Houston, Mary Pat volunteered as a Girl Scout leader, and was a member of Beta Sigma Phi sorority. In 1978, the family moved to Tyler, TX, where Mary Pat resumed her studies at The University of Texas at Tyler, earning her Bachelor of Science in Education degree in 1981.  

The family moved to Overton in 1980, and Mrs. Eaves began her teaching career at Leverett’s Chapel Elementary in 1982, teaching 4th grade. In 1984, she began teaching at Overton Elementary School, where her lifelong passion for reading brought many successes and achievements to Overton’s Accelerated Reading and Gifted & Talented programs. Mrs. Eaves was a favorite teacher and mentor among her students, and was greatly loved and respected by the school staff and her fellow teachers and administrators.  

Mary Pat retired from teaching in 2003, but became even more active in the Overton community, serving as secretary at the Chamber of Commerce, and spending countless hours volunteering her time in many and varied projects such as administering student summer reading programs, serving as an active member of Friends of the Library and secretary for the Queen Price Garden Club, organizing annual Veterans’ Day celebration programs, actively supporting the Overton Bluegrass Music Festival and the bluegrass music community, and working as a member of Overton’s First Assembly of God church.  Her major passion in recent years was serving as an educator for NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness), providing support and encouragement to families who have loved ones with mental illnesses. Her contributions to education in Overton continued from 2013-2016, when she was elected and served as a member of the OISD School Board.

Mary Pat will be lovingly remembered for her many contributions to education and teaching, for her boundless support of the Overton community, for her unique gifts of humor and lifelong friendships, for the love and devotion she gave her family, friends, and students, for her delicious chocolate-chocolate-chip cakes, and for a life full of accomplishment that was truly well-lived.  In all of her pursuits, she exhibited a generous and loving mission to serve others.  As an established, well-respected, and much-loved member of the Overton community and well beyond, Mary Pat will be truly missed.

Preceded in death by her parents, her brother Dr. Maurice S. Green, and her son-in-law Dr. William C. Cummins, Mary Pat is survived by her husband of 53 years, Donald B. Eaves; daughters Mary Carole Cummins and Catherine (Victor) Veltze; grandchildren Beau Cummins, Sean Cummins, Karinna Veltze, and Lauren Cummins; sisters-in-law Susan (Scott) Morrill, Sandra Overbeck, and Rhonda Green; nephews Philip (Kristina) Green and Charles Overbeck; nieces Sissy Overbeck (Kendall Turnage), Amy Green, and Jennifer Green; numerous extended family members, and a countless number of lifelong friends.

A memorial service to celebrate the life of Mary Pat Eaves will be held at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 18, 2020 in the Promised Land Building, First Assembly of God, 501 E Brandon St., Overton, TX 75684. Arrangements are under direction of Cottle-Pearson Funeral Home, Overton.

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