Obit of Lola M. (Martin) Deskins (d252) - Grady County, Oklahoma Submitted by: Sandy Carter 02 Jul 2003 Return to Grady County Archives: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/grady/grady.html ========================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ========================================================================== The Chickasha Express-Star 21 April 2003 LOLA M. [MARTIN] DESKINS Funeral service for Lola M. (Martin) Deskins, 92, of Chickasha, Okla., will be held at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, April 23, 2003, in the McRay Funeral Home Chapel. Lola M. (Martin) Deskins was born May 16, 1910, and died on Sunday, April 30, 2003. Services are under the direction of McRay Funeral Home. ========== The Chickasha Express-Star 22 April 2003 LOLA M. [MARTIN] DESKINS Funeral service for Lola M. (Martin) Deskins, age 92, of Chickasha, will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 23, 2003, in the Chapel of McRay Funeral Home. Lola was born May 16, 1910, in Erath County, TX, the daughter of Buck D. Martin and Virginia Dare (Cohron) Martin. She died April 20, 2003, in Andover, Kansas. She is survived by: son and daughter-in-law, James Wesley and Mary Ann Deskins, Wichita, KS; following nieces and nephews: Clariece (Doug) Morris, Ardmore, Marie (Bob) Bowen, Arlington, TX, Le Kim (Helen) Martin, Chickasha, Jean (Art) Loafman, Carlsbad, NM, Kay (Anthony) Hart, Chickasha, Michael M. (Lorri) Fraser, Richardson, TX; two generations of great nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, A. M. "Boots" Deskins, two brothers and sisters-in-law, Cecil C. (Hazle) Martin and John Elmer (Vanne) Martin, one Niece, Ann Fraser Huggins. Lola moved from Texas to Oklahoma in 1915 with her family. She liked to say that she crossed the Red River into Oklahoma in a "Surrey with a Fringe on the Top." That's not quite right! Although the said surrey was part of the moving party, 5 year old Lola wanted to get out and walk across the wooden Red River bridge with her 10 year old brother. All went fine for a while, but she discovered that she could see the moving water between the bridge planks and became frightened and began to cry. So, more correctly, Lola was carried into Oklahoma by her brother, John Elmer, behind the surrey. The family settled in the Norge community southwest of Chickasha. Lola began school soon after her arrival and attended a small school called Banner, located near Norge. (Her first grade teacher was Hazel Bloss, who later married George W. Thomas - one of the early pioneer families of Grady County.) She later attended Pioneer High School, graduating one year early - with the class of 1927. While in high school, she was a first-rate basketball player. She later attended what were then known as Oklahoma College for Women in Chickasha and Central State Teacher's College in Edmond and qualified for a teaching certificate. The economics of the time dictated less college and more work. So, Lola began a series of teaching positions in two-room schools of Comanche and Grady Counties. There schools were Cedar Grove and Rocky Ford. In the latter school, she and her sister, Eula, were the two teachers for the school. In November 1932, she married Boots Deskins and ended her full-time teaching career the following spring. She and Boots moved to Chickasha and Lola took a job working for one of the new agencies created by the Roosevelt administration. People referred to it as the "Triple A Office" - which was an acronym for the Agricultural Adjustment Administration. Through this office she got to meet about every farmer in Grady County at the time. Later on she continued her farmer connection through her work in the "County Agent's Office" - a shortened version of the Grady County Agent of the U. S. Agricultural Extension Service. In 1938 a son was born to Lola and Boots. With the help of a wonderful in-home daytime caregiver for her son, Lola continued to work through 1943. But, alas, the caregiver left Chickasha to get married, and Boots and Lola moved to the ranch near Amber. Although she worked sporadically during the next 15+ years - as a substitute teacher, as a secretary, as temporary Christmas office help - she helped Boots in the cattle business and became the 1940s and 1950s equivalent of a "soccer mom" where their home was 10 miles from one soccer field and 10 miles in the opposite direction from the other soccer field. (Athletics were not involved but you get the drift.) In about 1960, Lola resumed to full-time work as a deputy in the office of the Grady County Treasurer, working until her retirement in 1975. She continued to live in her home in Chickasha caring for Boots, who was in a care facility until his death in 1984, enjoying social activities with friends and enjoying her Church Circle and Church School groups at Epworth United Methodist Church. She had numerous opportunities to travel with her sister and with her son and daughter-in-law to every corner of the contiguous United States as well as to Hawaii and to Toronto, Victoria and Vancouver, Canada. In 1998, health dictated that she be closer to her son and daughter-in-law and she stayed in several locations in the Wichita area, most recently, with her caregiver and friend, Jeannie Buchanan. During her nearly five year extended visit in Wichita she met many of Jim and Mary Ann's friends and colleagues. She regaled them with many stories of life in her early days in Grady County. She celebrated her 90th birthday in 2000 with a trip to Las Vegas and a luncheon with many of her Grady County friends in Chickasha. Contributions to Lola's memory may be made to The University of Texas M D Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Blvd--HMB 197, Houston, TX 77030. Services are under the direction of the McRay Funeral Home. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to Grady County Archives: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/grady/grady.html