House Sweet It Is : Couple Down on Luck Win Discount Home

William and Beverly Overman may be near the end of a seven-year bout with bad luck.

The Fullerton couple spent Friday afternoon at their doctors’ offices--he for a rare spinal condition that has left him bedridden for the past seven years, she for neck pains from a traffic accident last month which the other driver fled. But that same afternoon, their luck turned.

On their way home--which included a stop to get new job resume copies for Beverly, who fears she is one of many to be laid off by Hughes Aircraft Co.--they decided to telephone City Hall about a contest they had entered.

They received news that they had just won a raffle for a house built by Fullerton College students and sold by the city for a discount price of $90,000.

“I never dreamed that I would win it,” said Beverly, 35. “We wanted to own a home. We just couldn’t afford it.”

She said she had saved, worked overtime and “put every penny away” for a home of their own. Winning the raffle prize of a three-bedroom, two-bath house for $90,000 might mean that “maybe, we’re on a roll now,” she said. “We’re just praying that things will start looking up.”

Things started looking bad about seven years ago when William Overman, a former librarian/clerk with Hughes and later a teacher, began to suffer from an inoperable, congenital condition called spinal stenosis.

Until then, he had been active in sports such as surfing, skateboarding and bicycling. Now, at 35, he can’t even sit in a wheelchair for long, his wife said. To add to the frustration, Overman’s disease is rare and “nobody knew what was wrong with him.”

Last month, Beverly Overman was the victim of a hit-and-run accident with a diesel truck. While she was recovering, her employer, Hughes, laid off hundreds of employees, including 85 in her department. A medical claims analyst with Hughes for 10 1/2 years, she still is on disability and said she doesn’t know if she is among the 85.

To the Overmans, winning the raffle was a sign of better things to come. “Now, if my husband would get well, we’d be on top of the world,” Beverly Overman said.

This was the second year the couple had entered the city drawing. They were among 32 applicants for the home at 2012 E. Dorothy Lane, the fourth of five homes to be sold in the city-sponsored project intended to provide families with affordable housing. The home, with a fireplace and double garage, is “a nice little house,” William Overman said.

The day of the raffle, Overman told his wife not to bother calling City Hall. “You’re going to ruin your whole day,” he told her. But she could not contain her curiousity. “I just wanted to see who won. I was curious. And it was me!”

Finally, she said, “something good happened.”