Stepping down after five decades of service

Davey Elementary School may be far away from people's attention outside city limits, but that does not mean the school's work goes unnoticed.

Monday at the Davey Elementary School board meeting, the board recognized the work of Fred Davey and Lisa Overlie, who had a combined 50-plus years of service on the school's board. 

They were not made aware of the honor before Monday's board meeting, so the recognition was a surprise to both of them. 

"It was very nice," Overlie said about the honor. "I wasn't expecting this at all."

Both Davey and Overlie attended Davey Elementary School during their adolescence. Davey has served on the board for over 30 years. During that time, he has gotten to meet a lot of students and see how the school changed over the years. 

"I met a lot of kids over the years I was here. I've seen a lot come and a lot go," Davey said. "When I first started, it was mostly country kids that lived out here and now it's all kids from Havre."

He has been carrying on the legacy of his great-grandfather, who founded the small school back in the late 1800s. Since then, Davey's grandfather and father served on the board before Davey's turn began in the late 1980s. His wife has also served on the school board alongside him. 

Overlie has served on the board for about 20 years and has seen the school grow. At one point during her tenure there, the school only had one teacher. The school eventually grew to be able to hire an assistant before growing further to hire more than one teacher and numerous assistants.

Davey Elementary School is a small school with about 15 students attending there this past year. With such a small school, the school board only consists of three members. With their consistent service over the years, Davey and Overlie helped the school continue to run and get their students an education. 

Over the years, Davey Elementary underwent several changes. As more families moved closer to Havre, the school relocated closer to city limits as well. That way, farming families just outside Havre can take advantage of the school's opportunities. 

District Clerk Serena Dawson said Fred Davey donated the land to the district to be able to move it.

"It's just a nice opportunity for those families that want to have a more one-on-one student to teacher ratio or a homeschool feeling," she said. 

Not only did they help keep the school running, but Dawson believes Davey and Overlie helped the school keep up with the technological advantages that larger schools underwent over the years. 

"With it being a rural school, they had the ideas of progressively moving the school along to keep up with the ever-changing environment of education," Dawson said. "It's a huge impact when they're making those decisions to better the education for their students."

She said the district has a limited number of people in it, and Davey and Overlie kept stepping up to the plate to serve and keep the school running.

She added that, as a small school, the board members often step up to do work on the school and its property, right down to Davey helping a paraprofessional deal with a flat tire so she could get back to town, and acting as a handyman many times.

"When there was work to be done, they did it," Dawson said.

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Havre Daily News managing editor Tim Leeds contributed to this report.