Obit of Leckie, Arleta LaNel Preston (l200) - Kiowa County, Oklahoma Submitted by: Gene Phillips 4 Oct 2003 Return to Kiowa County Archives: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/kiowa/kiowa.html ========================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ========================================================================== :Fairlawn Cemetery--Snyder OK Lawton Constitution 4 May 2004 Arleta LaNel Preston Leckie SNYDER - Funeral for Arleta LaNel Preston Leckie, 87, Snyder, will be at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday at Snyder First United Methodist Church with Dr. Jene Miller, pastor, Arnett First United Methodist Church, the Rev. Nancy Adler, pastor, Snyder First United Methodist Church; and Daryl Perry, Indiahoma, officiating. Mrs. Leckie died Saturday, May 1, 2004 in Altus. Burial will be at Fairlawn Cemetery, east of Snyder, with the Rev. J.W. Denham officiating, under direction of Preston-Leckie Funeral Home and Lawton Ritter Gray Funeral Home. She was born Jan. 5, 1917, in Mountain Park to Dr. C.R. and Mabelle Preston. She grew up in Mountain Park and attended Mountain Park Schools, and graduated as valedictorian of the Class of 1933. She attended the Oklahoma College for Women in Chickasha and graduated from Oklahoma University with a degree in social work in June 1938. She was an Alpha Chi Omega. She was employed by the Department of Public Welfare (now the Department of Human Services) Child Walfare Division. She was instrumental in establishing the first Child Welfare Unit in Craig County. She worked in Craig, Ottawa, Mayes, Delaware, Nowata and Washington Counties and lived in Bartlesville and Vinita. She married Melvin E. Leckie on Feb. 16, 1942 in Mountain Park. In May 1946, she moved to Snyder and formed a partnership with her mother and husband in the Preston-Leckie Funeral Home. She was also appointed the district supervisor of child welfare for Jackson, Harmon, Greer, Kiowa and Tillman Counties. She was mainly involved in protective services for chldren until June 1963 when she was assigned to establish a daycare program for migrant children whose parents came to harvest cotton in Southwest Oklahoma. In 1972, she was assigned to license child care facilities and held this position until her retirement in February 1983. She then worked full time in the funeral home. She was a licensed funeral director for 58 years, a charter member of the Associated Christian Ministries Inc., a 50 plus-year member of the Order of the Eastern Star and a member of the American Legion Auxilliary. She was also a past member of the Snyder Chamber of Commerce, the Snyder Rotary Club, the Snyder Garden Club and the Tuesday Night Bridge Club, the National and Oklahoma Funeral Director's Association and the Fairlawn Cemetery Association. She was a member of Snyder First United Methodist Church and taught the pre-school Sunday chool class at the church for more than 50 years. Survivors include a son, Preston; a daughter and son-in-law, Charla and Ron Wedel; two grandsons: Shawn and Richard Preston-Leckie; two granddaughters: Leslie Graves and husband, Bill; and Kelli Hicks; a great- grandson, Ryan Wade Leckie; two great-granddaughters: Sierra and Shelby Graves; a sister, Walleah McAnerny; and two nephews: Pat and Charles Preston McAnerny. She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband; an aunt, Nettie Bryce; a niece, Heather Susan McAnerny; and a cousin, Alice Box. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to Kiowa County Archives: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/kiowa/kiowa.html