Jefferson County Oklahoma Obituaries- presented by Genealogy Trails

Russell Ernest Josiah Harris was born June 24, 1908, in Ryan, Oklahoma to Ernest Josiah and Stella Russell Harris. Russell passed from this life January 3, 2001, in Nocona, Texas at the age of 92.
Russell graduated from Ryan High School. He was a farmer and postal clerk at the Ryan Post Office until his retirement. He was a member of the Ryan Masonic Lodge and a life-long member of the Ryan and Irving Baptist churches.
Russell is survived by his beloved wife of 66 years - Una Smith Harris; three sons - Joe Harris of Waurika, Oklahoma, Glen Harris of Wills Point, Texas, and Jon Harris of California; four grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and one uncle - Lloyd Russell of Missouri.
FFuneral services were held Saturday, January 6, 2001, at 2:00 PM, at the Irving Baptist Church with Rev. Clarence Mize and Rev. Jerry Hobbs officiating. Burial was in Ryan Cemetery under the direction of Dudley Funeral Home of Ryan. Visitation was held Friday, January 5, from 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM and Saturday, January 6, from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM.

Rev. Addie Lee Williams, 72, left this world for the portals of glory on Ja,nary 23, 2001. Her departure was from Lubbock, Texas for destination Heaven. She heard her savior whom she loved and served faithfully since age nine say "come home, you've fought a good fight and kept the faith, you're getting tired and weary, it's time for a rest." She gently obeyed the call and went home to be with Jesus, family and friends who have gone on before.
Services were held Friday, January 26, 2001, in the Ryan Assembly of God Church at 2:00 PM, with Rev. Dean Lusby and Rev. Paul Ratliff officiating. Burial was in Ryan Cemetery with arrangements under the direction of Dudley Funeral Home of Ryan.
Sister Addie was born December 27, 1928 at Ryan, Oklahoma to the late William H. (Bill) and Martha Ann Williams. She was converted and joined the Brown's Chapel Assembly of God Church east of Ryan at the age of nine. In January, 1940 the family moved into town and she became active in the local church where she has been a member since.
At the age of fourteen she began teaching the primary Sunday School class of boys and girls. She has taught in every department of the Sunday School, served as youth director for the church and area director. At the age of seventeen she answered the call to the ministry and was licensed with the Oklahoma District Council of the Assemblies of God in February 1949.
She received her ordination papers in October 1956. During these years she has served in evangelistic work, pastored the Temple Assembly of God Church for 2 1/2 years and served for several years as Associated Pastor of the Ryan Assembly of God Church. She also served as supply pastor for other churches that were out of a pastor.
Along with the ministry she has worked for the D.L. Nash family as housekeeper from 1949 - 1959. She went to work at the Temple Manufacturing Company where she was employed for ten years. She was employed with B&T Manufacturing Company for five years. She was employed by the Ryan Leader from 1976 to November of 1999.
She was preceded in death by her parents, one brother - Ted, one sister - Louise Morgan, a nephew - Troy Morgan, and a niece - Betty Ann Moore.
Her survivors are one brother and two sisters-in-law - Dicie Williams of Ryan, Charlie and Bessie Williams of Hereford, Texas; two sisters and brothers-in-law - Birtie and Junior Vanbepper of Morton, Texas, Coy and Elgin Moore of Hereford, Texas; five nieces and 9 nephews, several great nieces and nephews and a number of cousins and many friends.

Betty Jean Davis Cleary, 70, of Comanche, Oklahoma died Monday, January 29, 2001, in Mercy Hospital in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Graveside service was held at 2:00 PM, Wednesday, January 31, 2001 in Fairlawn Cemetery in Comanche, with W.W. Harkins officiating. Arrangements were under the direction of Dudley Funeral Home of Comanche. No visitation was held.
Mrs. Cleary was born May 21, 1930, in Oklahoma, to Otis Ray and Winnie Mae Davis. She married Buster Cleary on Febuary 23, 1946 in Hobart, Oklahoma and he preceded her in death on September 4, 1986. She was a homemaker, wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother.
Survivors include a son and daughter-in-law, Billy Ray and Gayle Cleary of Edmond, Oklahoma; a daughter and son-in-law, Pam and Jackie Gordon of Comanche; a brother and sister-in-law, Don and Linda Davis of Walters, Oklahoma; a sister, Maxine Moss of Duncan, Oklahoma; three grandchildren, Colby Kyle Cleary, Jill Gordon, and Jennifer Gordon; and a great-grandson, Waymon Scott Cleary.
Memorial contributions may be made to the charity of the donor's choice.

Glen Dale Morgan was born December 30, 1926, in Jefferson County, Oklahoma, to Jerry and Maudie Keller Morgan and passed from this life January 31, 2001, in Wichita Falls, Texas at the age of 74.

Glen Dale attended school at Sugden, Oklahoma, and graduated from Irving School in 1945. He served his country during WWII in the United States Army.
Glen Dale and Helen Hoffman were united in marriage October 14, 1948, in Wichita Falls, Texas. They made their home in the Irving and Waurika, Oklahoma communities. To this union were born two children - Ron and Connie. Glen Dale was a member of the First Baptist Church and the Rotary Club of Waurika for over 35 years. He was in business, working with Fred Richardson for over thirty years and he farmed and ranched his entire life. Just like Will Rogers, He never met a man he didn't like.

Survivors include his wife Helen; one son, Ron and his wife Sharon Morgan of Waurika, Oklahoma; one daughter, Connie and her husband Sam Spivey of Houston, Texas; four grandchildren, Katrice Gibbons Volkert, Taryn Gibbons, Matthew Morgan and Brandon Spivey; one great-grandson, Clay Volkert; two brothers, Howard Morgan of Holliday, Texas and Don Morgan of Wichita Falls, Texas; three sisters, Nina Gray of Wichita Falls, Texas, Joyce Sellers of Fulton Missouri, and Loyce Wade of McAllen, Texas; numerous nieces, nephews, great-nieces and nephews.

Glen Dale was preceded in death by his parents and one brother, Jimmy Morgan.

Funeral services were held Friday, February, 2, 2001 at 2:00 PM, at First Baptist Church in Waurika, Oklahoma with Tim Bowen and Jerry Hobbs officiating. Burial was in Ryan Cemetery under the direction of Dudley Funeral Home of Waurika. Visitation was at Dudley Funeral Home in Waurika Thursday, February 1 from 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM. The family received visitors from 6:00 to 8:00 PM.

Memorial contributions may be made to the American Institute for Cancer Research.

Arthur L. Walker. - Jefferson County

As a Western Union messenger at Forth Worth, Texas, at the age of fifteen Arthur L. Walker began what has proved to be an exceptionally interesting career, during which he has achieved the distinction of becoming one of the leading business men and democratic politicians of Oklahoma. Nearly fifteen years ago he identified himself with the development of tho newly opened territory in Southwestern Oklahoma, and in that section has employed his talents and business judgment in many of the most important undertakings in several towns, and still at an age when most men are at the outset of their productive careers he has achieved gratifying financial success. Mr. Walker is now a merchant, banker, publisher, and interested in other affairs at Waurika, and is secretary to the speaker of the House of Representatives of the Oklahoma Legislature, chairman of the state election board and state conservation officer for the corporation commission of Oklahoma.

Arthur L. Walker was born December 16, 1879, on a ranch near Venus, Texas, a son of T. F. and Cornelia (Williams) Walker. His father, who was born near Palestine, Texas, was a railroad contractor, and superintended much railroad construction in the early days of the state, among other enterprises having had an important part in the building of the Forth Worth & Denver City Railway into Wichita Falls during the early '80s. Now, at the age of seventy-one, he makes his home at Waurika and Forth Worth, Texas, living with his children. Mrs. Walker, the mother, was also a native of Texas, the daughter of an Alabama man whose chief business was sawmilling.

Arthur L. Walker's wide experience has been his education. As a school boy in Forth Worth and Waco he pursued his studies only to the fifth grade. At the age of fifteen he began making his own way as Western Union messenger in Forth Worth, later was a newsboy, and advancing in that work became state agent for the Kansas City Sunday Sun, establishing sub-agents over a large part of the state. Later he was a carrier for the Evening Telephone, a Waco daily paper, of which he subsequently became circulation and advertising manager. A printer's strike caused him to sever his connection with the paper, although he was not a union card holder, and he took charge of the .circulation and advertising department of a new paper founded by the striking printers. This, it is a matter of interest to note, was the first penny paper published in Texas. His next employment was in the business office of the Waco Times Herald, with which he was identified until 1901. Thus Mr. Walker came to Oklahoma with an experience and training that had brought him into contact with all sorts of men and conditions, and had developed his powers adequate to solve each successive problem as it arose.

Mr. Walker was at the opening of the Kiowa and Comanche country in 1901, and was for some time located at Lawton, the metropolis of that district. There he became associated with L. T. Russell in the publication of the Lawton State Democrat, one of the first newspapers in the town. In 1902, with E. G. Etzold and Russell Monroe, he established the Botsford Tribune at a new town thirty miles south of Lawton. He also became associated with the townsite company engaged in promoting new towns along the line of the Rock Island Railroad, then building south of Lawton, and in this way assisted in the establishment and organization of Temple, near Botsiord. At the age of twenty-one he was the first ma}or of Temple. The plant of the Tribune was moved to Temple and the paper has since been known as the Temple Tribune, Mr. Etzold remaining in charge. Mr. Walker assisted in the organization of the First State Bank of Temple, was its first president, but in 1905 removed to Waurika and organized the First State Bank, of which institution he also became president. Later he and associates bought a -ranch of 10,000 acres near the town, and he still retains interests in that property. He has been secretary of the Waurika Chamber of Commerce and now a member of the executive committee, is a member of the city board of education, and chairman of the teachers' committee, is vice president of the News-Democrat Publishing Company of Waurika, also deals in real estate, and has a large business as a hardware and implement dealer.

Mr. Walker was secretary of the State Federation of Commercial Clubs when that organization made the first effort to secure the repeal of an article of the constitution forbidding the consolidation of railroad companies, and he was in active charge of the campaign. He was a member of the first Democratic Central Committee of Comanche County, and secretary of the first two democratic county conventions. He was secretary of the Hobart convention of 1907 that nominated Scott Ferris of Lawton, for Congress. He was the first chairman of tho Democratic Central Committee of Jefferson County after statehood, and has been chairman of all democratic campaign committees except one in that county since Oklahoma became a state. Mr. Walker was, a member of the state committee that raised funds in behalf of the national campaign of 1912 and sat in the Democratic State Convention of that year as a delegate pledged to the support of Woodrow Wilson. He was also chairman of the campaign committee in Jefferson County that brought about the removal of the county seat from Ryan to Waurika.

His most recent as well as his most notable achievement in state politics was in 1914, as manager of the campaign of A. McCrory of his county for speaker of the House of Representatives. He was also a member of the committee chosen to take of the interests of Judge Williams, who in the same year was elected governor. The campaign of Mr. McCrory was somewhat unique in politics owing to the fact that his election as speaker was brought about without a single promise or pledge which would in any way trammel his independence as the executive leader of the House. The hand of Mr. Walker was in this proceeding, and he must be given a large share of the credit for clearing the way for a successful administration by the present speaker. The result also established him among the leading young reform democrats of Oklahoma.

Mr. Walker was married in Duncan, Oklahoma, March 1, 1908, to Miss Prudence Morgan, who died in Omaha, Nebraska, the home of her parents, September 7, 1915. Her father, Clinton Morgan, has for years been with the firm of Clay-Robinson Commission Company of Omaha. Mrs. Walker was a prominent club and social worker of Waurika. She was one of the founders of the Waurika Public Library, and treasurer since its establishment, and a member of its board of trustees. She was a member of the Eastern Star and the Royal Neighbors, serving through all chairs in each. They have no children. Mr. Walker has two brothers and a sister: Raymond Franklin and Edgar, both employed in the plant of the Swift Packing Company at Fort Worth, the latter as a machinist; and Miss Ruby, who lives with her brother in Waurika. Mr. Walker is affiliated with Waurika Lodge of the Masons, with the Royal Arch Chapter of Lawton, with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Lawton, and the Knights of Pythias Lodge at Waurika.
Source: A Standard History of Oklahoma Volume 4 By Joseph Bradfield Thoburn

Submitted by: Genealogy Trails Transcription Team

Russell Ernest Josiah Harris was born June 24, 1908, in Ryan, Oklahoma to Ernest Josiah and Stella Russell Harris. Russell passed from this life January 3, 2001, in Nocona, Texas at the age of 92.
Russell graduated from Ryan High School. He was a farmer and postal clerk at the Ryan Post Office until his retirement. He was a member of the Ryan Masonic Lodge and a life-long member of the Ryan and Irving Baptist churches.
Russell is survived by his beloved wife of 66 years - Una Smith Harris; three sons - Joe Harris of Waurika, Oklahoma, Glen Harris of Wills Point, Texas, and Jon Harris of California; four grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and one uncle - Lloyd Russell of Missouri.
Funeral services were held Saturday, January 6, 2001, at 2:00 PM, at the Irving Baptist Church with Rev. Clarence Mize and Rev. Jerry Hobbs officiating. Burial was in Ryan Cemetery under the direction of Dudley Funeral Home of Ryan. Visitation was held Friday, January 5, from 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM and Saturday, January 6, from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM.