The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.

Meet Your Neighbor

Meet your neighbor Earl Waller of Raritan. He is the Highway Commissioner for Raritan Township and President of the Raritan Village Board.

Earl was born at the Avon Hospital in Warren County and was raised in Swan Creek. His parents are Elmo and Clydene Waller. His father was a self-employed bulldozing operator and his mom was a stay at home mom.

Earl has an older brother, Lyle (Alice) Waller of Swan Creek, who is now retired. Earl's sister, Lisa and her husband, Sonny Gooden, live in Blandinsville. Lisa works at McDonough District Hospital and Sonny works in maintenance at the Good Hope School.

Earl is a 1973 graduate of Roseville High School. While in high school he played football for the Roseville Panthers.

On January 19, 1974 he married DeAnn Overstreet. DeAnn graduated from Southern High School. She works at Catfish Bend Casino and also as a cashier at Farm King in West Burlington, IA.

Earl and DeAnn have two children, both graduates of Southern High School. Son Shane Waller is a semi driver and lives in Fairland OK with his wife Susan, a homemaker and their 13 year-old son Michael. Son William "Bill" Waller is a computer tech for Catfish Bend Casino, who lives at home with his parents.

Earl previously operated Waller Bus Service which he purchased from his in-laws, F. Effie "Bun" and Pauline Overstreet. The company had 13 or 14 employees and had 9 busses and three suburbans operating for sports and various routes. In 2001 he sold the company to Steve Wisslead, Brian Arnold and John Livermore.

Earl has been a Raritan Fireman since the fall of 1974 and he was Fire Chief during the May 13, 1995 tornado that hit the city. During the 2 1/2 weeks of clean-up that followed, prisoners were brought in to help with clean-up. That experience is one he hopes to never have again. Also as Fire Chief Earl helps in shooting off fireworks, only twice in 1988 and in 2014 did he spend that time with his family rather than helping with the community fireworks. He said that firemen "continually give up time to make it happen for the community. They do it to serve others"

As a board member he has helped put up Christmas decorations and the flags along the two main streets in town for holidays. He feels that board members should listen to issues brought forth and try to solve problems in a way that is fairest to the whole community.

Earl and DeAnn are members of the Raritan Baptist Church.

For enjoyment Earl and DeAnn are golfing members of Twins Oaks Golf Club. He had previously worked part-time at Hend Co Hills.

They also enjoy riding motorcycles. In 2011 they went with a group of Raritan cyclist friends to Sturgess SD then to Killeen, TX and Ft Hood TX covering covered over 4500 miles on their motorcycles in a month and a half.

As a family they have traveled to the west coast several times to visit relatives.

Looking to the future Earl notes that having served on the village board for many years he is looking forward to the end of his term. While he likes helping people, he feels it is time for others to step forward and take a turn at serving.

As part of his outlook on life Earl believes that no matter what the controversy he always tries to see the good and show respect. He says, "I like helping people in any way I can. I was always taught by my parents , there is good in everybody and sometimes you have to look for it but it is there.... I seem to get along with most people and I don't hold a grudge- we just sometimes disagree."

He appreciates the confidence the residents of Raritan have placed in him but challenges them to step up and serve.