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Cove merchants come to the rescue of their beloved ‘mayor’

Jan Overby is a fixture in Deep Cove ready to jump into action – rain, shine, Christmas Day, peak tourist season or two a.m. You see, Overby is the Cove’s unofficial mayor, and rightly so.

Jan Overby is a fixture in Deep Cove ready to jump into action – rain, shine, Christmas Day, peak tourist season or two a.m.  

You see, Overby is the Cove’s unofficial mayor, and rightly so.

Some may know Overby by the signature white undershirt he sports – day, night and in December. Others know him by his almost invisible deeds.

Overby rises in his apartment above the shops around dawn to start his rounds. At 6 a.m. he sweeps the sidewalks on Gallant Avenue and changes all the garbage bags – even before the first Quarry Rock hikers show up.

The retiree will power wash the streets, pick up trash from the ground and salt the sidewalks in the wintertime.

Overby also helps open the businesses and brings all the chairs and displays outside. When the last customer leaves, Overby puts it all away again.

The shop owners entrust him with their keys. If there’s an after-hours emergency in the Cove, Overby is on the case.

“Jan has a heart of gold,” says Room6 owner Megan Curren.

“We’ve always joked that he must have a clone because I swear he can be in two places at once. Someone needs help parking, he’s there. Trash is overflowing, he’s emptying it. Kid needs a ride home, done (all while rocking out to custom playlists in the PT Cruiser).”

Overby will climb up to the roof and fix patches to keep the residents and merchants below dry, because we all know Deep Cove has its fair share of deluges.

Essentially, Overby makes the Cove a more beautiful place than it already is, just by being himself.

But don’t take it from us. Read what Overby’s closest friends have to say about this unique Cove character with the biggest heart around.

Pomegranate Grillhouse & Cafe owner Shawn Memarzadeh says he and Overby have been like brothers since they met 12 years ago.

Every morning Overby stops in for a coffee and always insists on paying.

And if by chance “Mr. Change” has run out because he’s been giving it away – Overby will be back within the hour to pay even the tiniest tab.

“He’s a very joyful person. I haven’t seen anyone like him in my life. He always cares about us and helps us in any way he can,” says Memarzadeh.

Overby, it seems, is always going way out of his way to help others.

Case in point, when one of his neighbours went on a month-long trip. Overby, worried about her car’s battery charge, ensured it started properly when she returned.

Memarzadeh’s son Arash, who also works at Pomegranate, has been moved by his dad’s friendship with Overby.

“He’s just a human being that literally will do something for you and never hold it over your head. He’s just here for this little community and that’s what he loves,” says Arash.

Arash gets a kick out of Overby’s daily visits, especially in the dead of winter when the Cove is quiet.

The two will talk hockey or pro wrestling. Overby mourns the sport’s glory days and “Macho Man” Randy Savage.

“Jan will come to me and ask me to Google how old one of the James Bond leading actors is because he doesn’t know Google,” says Arash, who could never be annoyed by Overby’s pop quizzes.

Overby was Deep Cove’s deputy mayor with the long hair when Maegan Warren first met him in the late 1990s.  

“He was just a cool dude,” says Warren, who works at LaLa’s in the Cove.

Peggy and Fred McKee were Deep Cove royalty at the time and building managers of the apartment above the shop where Warren works.

Fred, who was the unofficial Cove mayor of the day, would sit on the bench out front of the pizza place, always with a broom in his hand, much like his successor.

Following Fred’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis he passed the broom to Overby. And when he died, Overby kept Peggy company.

“They just were bestest of friends. Every day Jan would take his tote bag that contained his slippers and their meal for the night and he would go across the street to the Lions (residence) and make Peggy dinner and they would watch Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy together,” recalls Warren.

Peggy passed away shortly after Overby became mayor of Deep Cove.

On March 13, 2009, Overby turned 60. That same day he retired from his District of North Van sanitation and parks job, after 28 years, and was sworn in as Deep Cove’s unofficial mayor.

Knowing Overby wasn’t one for attention, his merchant friends slyly celebrated his new designation when Overby strolled into the Cove that day after hanging up his hat at the district.

Their shirts read “Jan for Mayor” and they wrapped him in a royal blue bathrobe with the words “The Mayor” written in big white letters on the back.

Overby’s former DNV co-worker Stewart Kyle recalls their garbage collecting days.

“We always call ourselves the European team,” says Kyle, who comes from Belfast, and Overby, Denmark. “He loves to be around people and people like him being around – he’s an easygoing, funny, caring sort-of guy. It’s hard not to like him.”

After Overby retired if he noticed something was out of order in the Cove he would call up his old DNV friends.

“He’s kind of like The Godfather in a way – people would go to him and say: ‘Jan, when do I get these garbage containers emptied?’ says Kyle.

DNV Coun. Lisa Muri can vouch for Overby’s persistence in the name of community service.

“He calls me about issues, or stops me when he sees me to talk about what is going on, he sent me a message that garbage was becoming an issue in the Cove from his hospital bed … always on the job,” attests Muri.

On May 24, Overby was vacuuming at a restaurant on Gallant before the start of a busy day in the Cove – when he suffered a stroke.

“I was like: ‘No, it’s impossible, I don’t believe you,” says Warren when she heard the news.

Arash agrees, saying there was a palpable sense of sadness after Overby left that day.

“Literally, I felt like the entire Cove was just on shutdown,” says Arash.

A steady stream of his Cove friends have been visiting Overby at Lions Gate Hospital, as he recovers from the stroke, which has mainly affected the left side of his body.

Shawn and his wife Freda brought Overby a pint of Deep Cove Ice Cream to remind him of home.

“I feel like it’s pulled so many people together as everyone rallies behind him,” says Warren. “Like I’ve never felt this community love before. Their No. 1 goal is to be there for Jan and help get him back home.”

As it turns out, wherever Overby is at any given moment is home.

In between his physio appointments, Overby can be found sitting outside in the front courtyard at Lions Gate, chatting with patients and their families and, of course, trying to help his new constituents.

When Overby heard his nurse liked paddle boarding, he called Warren to ask how he could get her a lesson in the Cove. He also called Shawn from the hospital for help because a staff member’s front windshield was cracked.

“I said to myself: ‘Here is a guy struggling with his stroke paralyzing half of his body and yet trying to solve somebody’s problem he knows for few days,’” says Shawn.

Overby’s go-to Cove plumber for 30 years and friend Doug McCall says it’s going to be hard to fill Overby’s shoes, which are actually a pair of worn-out mesh top loafers.

“He’s a really, really good man,” says McCall. “We’d do anything we could to help the guy. “We’re all rooting for him.”

Overby can walk with the assistance of a cane, says Warren, but that’s still exhausting for him. He has more months of rehab ahead.

Warren figures when Overby is released from Lions Gate, he will try to sneak back to the Cove quietly. But that’s not acceptable in Warren’s books.

“You don’t even know the parade that is going to tromp through your apartment,” warns Warren.

You can bet they will be wearing their “Jan for Mayor” T-shirts.

Shawn, meanwhile, is anxiously waiting for the day his friend comes home.

“Jan, Jan, I always say Deep Cove is supposed to be deep but without him it’s shallow,” he says.