Obit of Henson, Crystal (h525) - Roger Mills County, Oklahoma Submitted by: Wanda Purcell 07 May 2003 Return to Roger Mills Archives: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/rogermills/rogermills.html ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE All documents placed in the USGenWeb Archives remain the property of the contributors, who retain publication rights in accordance with US Copyright Laws and Regulations. In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, these documents may be used by anyone for their personal research. They may be used by non-commercial entities so long as all notices and submitter information is included. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit. Any other use, including copying files to other sites, requires permission from the contributors PRIOR to uploading to the other sites. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ==================================================================== Surnames: Henson, Fowler, Jones, Barrymore, Ringley, Bryant, Gibson Originally Posted at: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/5YB.2ACE/5438 Monday afternoon, April 9, 1973, Sweetwater, Oklahoma turned out in masse to pay tribute and say their last farewll to one of their most beloved and dedicated public servants, Crystal Henson, age 54. Crystal had been told by medical doctors in November of 1971 that she was afflicted with Lou Gerhig disease or Amyotrophic Lateral Scierosis. She was stricken in the most critical area, that of the throat, gradually losing her voice, the ability to talk, then the ability to eat. She met the challenge as she had met every challenge in her accomplished life. An despite her physical handicap she continued to be church ogranist for the First Baptist Church in Sweetwater until one month before her death. Her public service began when she was 10 years old and began to play the piano for her church, without any interruption throught the 44 year span. She received her degree in Education and Instrumental Music at Weatherfordf, beginning a teaching career that was to include 19 years. Throughout the years her music students received numerous awards for outstanding talent. Her life was one of total dedication to all the arts and her well- rounded activities took her into Youth Programs, 4-H Club, Home Demostration and Federated Club Work. This lifelong pattern of discipline, the ability to achieve and her complete faith in God enabled her to live 7 months more when she could no longer swallow food. She drank raw vegetable and fruit juices by pushing a tube down her throat and obtaining nourishment directly in the stomach. She began to lose the use of her lfet arm and her neck yet she continued to play the organ at every church service. Her only means of communicating was writing with her right hand. The writing was firm and relfected her inner strength and the will to live. But this, too, was lamost taken away, just one week prioer to her death wne she lost her balance and fell on her right arm. Strength began to ebb faster from her body, and on the night of April 6th, she was taken to Sayre General Hospital, where she passed peacefully away in her slepp at 6:50 on the morning of April 7, 1973. The inspiration that she gave throughout her life, and most especially during her illness, was relfected by the many, many people who attended her funeral service, and the indescribable beauty of it all. Crystal was truly a Way Shower, a special emissary of God, and she will lived on in the lives of all those she touched as she passed our way. An angel walked among us and she was the perfection that her name implied. Survivors include her husband, O.K. Henson, teacher at Sweetwater, Carolyn Jones, teacher at Carnegie, two sons: Dennis, attending OSU in Veterinary Medicine at Stillwater, and Gregory, attending Okmulgee Tech in Auto Mechanics. She is also survived by her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Levi Fowler of Sweetwater, four sisters, Blanche Barrymore, Oklahoma City, Lova Ringley, Bradford, Pennsylvania, Peggy Bryant, Kelton, Texas and Patsy Gibson of Guymon; two brothers, E. L. Fowler, Jr., Sweetwater, and Jimmy Fowler of Spearman, Texas. Interment in Mulberry Cemetery, Sweetwater, Roger Mills County, Oklahoma. Cheyenne Star, Cheyenne, OK -------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to Roger Mills Archives http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/rogermills/rogermills.html