Obit of Davis, Leota Lee - Stephens County, Oklahoma

Submitted by:  Gene Phillips <okarchives@comcast.net>   4 Dec 2005
Return to Stephens County Archives:
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:Rush Springs Cemetery--Rush Springs OK
Marlow Review 22 Sep 2005

Leota Lee Davis, 82, of Lawton, passed away Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2005, at 
her home. Services were held Friday, Sept. 16, at the First Baptist Church 
of Lawton, with Dr. Gary W. Cook, pastor, and Pastor David Hale of the 
Vimy Ridge Baptist Church in Rush Springs officiating. Burial was held in 

Rush Springs Cemetery under the direction of Becker Funeral Home of 
Lawton.

Leota was born Sept. 22, 1922, in Marlow to the Rev. William Eldred and 
Alma Lorene (Young) Smith. Leota attended and graduated from Marlow 
schools. She worked at the Marlow bus station and helped take care of her 
mother and father. She met and married Frank Alvin Davis on Nov. 25, 1949, 
when she was working at the bus station. The Davis family lived near 
Marlow from 1949 to 1957, then moved to the Gillespie Ranch near 
Tishomingo, where they lived from 1957 to 1963. On June 1, 1963, the 
family moved to the Spencer Bernard farm east of Rush Springs. During this 
time, Leota began work as a domestic engineer and during the fall worked 
at Bernard Enterprises. She enjoyed working, talking, and assisting 
customers during the hectic 11- to 12-hour days, seven days a week. She 
continued to work at the "peanut plant" for the next 36 years, eventually 
having to quit because of failing health.

Frank retired in February 1989, and they moved to Robinson's Landing by 
Lake Lawtonka near Lawton. After Frank's death, Leota moved into Lawton to 
live with her daughter and son-in-law. She was a volunteer at Reynolds 
Army Community Hospital. Her total number of volunteer hours over the past 
15-plus years was 26,541.5. She was inducted into the Volunteer Hall of 
Fame in 1993 and has remained in the Hall of Fame each year since. Leota 
was a member of the Slaton Home Demonstration Club and a member of the 
Order of the Eastern Star, Marlow Chapter #38. She was a member of the 
Marlow Cumberland Presbyterian Church, but attended the First Baptist 
Church in Lawton.

Leota is survived by a daughter, Pam Burnett, and her husband Loy, of 
Lawton; a sister, Mary Belle Griggs of Lawton; a sister-in-law, Rose Orene 
Smith; a niece, Melodie Wonderly and her husband Roger, and a nephew, 
Kevin Smith and his wife Kathy, all of Oklahoma City; sisters and 
brothers-in-law, Gladys Nix, Hattie Bowman, Nora McCarty, Peggy and Ernest 
Alexander, M.B. (Mutt) and Lucille Davis, and Joe and Nellie Davis; and 
many special nieces, nephews, grandnieces, grandnephews, cousins and 
special friends.

Leota was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, an infant 
daughter and a brother.

Memorial contributions may be made to Hospice of Southwest Oklahoma, P.O. 
Box 2074, Lawton, OK 73502, or to the First Baptist Church, 501 S.W. B 
Ave., Lawton, OK 73501.

Sympathy cards may be sent to the family online at www.beckerfuneral.com.
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