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L.L. Culver Jr.
TAHLEQUAH -- Services for L.L. Culver Jr. will be held at 1 p.m., Tuesday, April 13, 2004, at Reed-Culver Funeral Home Chapel, with Rev. Ron Rice and Keith Miller officiating. Burial will follow at Tahlequah City Cemetery under the direction of Reed-Culver Funeral Home. Family will receive friends from 6-8 p.m., Monday, April 12, 2004, at Reed-Culver Funeral Home Chapel.
L.L. Culver Jr. was born on March 27, 1920 in Stilwell. He was the first-born son of Mildred Ione (Farrar) Culver and Lawrence Love Culver. He passed away in Enid, on April 7, 2004, at the age of 84.
L.L. graduated from Tahlequah High School in 1937 and was elected president of both the junior class of 1936 and the senior class of 1937, also receiving the Outstanding Senior Award of 1937. He was active in debate and music, and was an accomplished classical pianist as well as playing flute and piccolo in the Northeastern State College Band while still in high school. He went on to Northeastern State College where, in 1940, he received the first bachelor of science degree offered by the college, following a pre-med course of study with a major in biology and double minor in chemistry and music.
In August 1940, he entered the Williams Institute of Mortuary Science in Kansas City, Kan., and graduated in June of 1941. He began his professional career as an undertaker at age 21. L.L. joined his parents (and later his brother, Bob Ed) as owners and operators of Reed-Culver Funeral Home in Tahlequah, Okla.
After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy under the Navy V-7 Officer Program. This was often referred to as the "90 day wonder program" for officer candidates already holding college degrees. In World War II, he first served in the European theater, participating in assault landing of Sicily, Anzio and Southern France as a Navy Scout and Raider (forerunner of the Navy SEALs), receiving the Legion of Merit and Bronze Star Medals for combat duty.
L.L. and Ruby Lorene Moore were married on Oct. 19, 1944, having met at a church social at the First Baptist Church in Tahlequah, on Nov. 7, 1941, prior to the war. After being assigned briefly to the staff at the Scouts and Raiders Training facility in Fort Pierce, Fla., L.L. received orders for duty in the Pacific. He served in the Pacific theater and was on a ship en route to the invasion of Japan at the end of World War II. At this time, with momentous effort, L.L. managed to return home one week before the birth of his first child.
L.L. was deeply touched by his comrades who had given the ultimate sacrifice of their lives during World War II, and mourned the loss of these men all of his life. He was very modest about his own military service. In his later life, he was honored by the Navy SEALs for his role as a Scout and Raider by induction into the Navy SEALs Museum in Florida. By special invitation, he attended a ceremony in Arlington National Cemetery in which a monument honoring the World War II Scouts and Raiders was unveiled and dedicated.
L.L. was dedicated to Tahlequah and Cherokee County. Through Reed and Culver Funeral Home and ambulance service, he humbly served the people he loved.
An active member in the community at large, L.L. participated in the Kiwanis Club (serving as president), Lions Club, American Legion (serving as post commander), and served on the Tahlequah School Board of Education.
He was very active in the First Baptist Church of Tahlequah, serving at times as Sunday School superintendent, president of the Brotherhood, building chairman for the sanctuary on College Avenue, and a longtime member of the bass section of the choir.
The focus of L.L. and Ruby's life together was their four children and later their grandchildren. The latter years of L.L.'s life were dedicated to the care of his wife who had been afflicted with multiple sclerosis. They resided in their beloved Tahlequah until the last two years of their lives, when health problems necessitated moving them to Enid to be nearer their children. Though limited by increasing health problems, they enjoyed many occasions when all four children and numerous relatives came to visit and celebrate their lives.
L.L. was preceded in death by his wife Ruby on Sept. 20, 2003. He was also preceded in death by his parents and his younger brother Joseph Farrar Culver.
He is survived by his brother Bob Ed Culver of Tahlequah; and by his four children, William Lawrence Culver of Oklahoma City, Catherine Culver McClean of Denver, Colo., Mary Culver Carlile of Irving, Texas, and Karig Paul Culver of Enid.
Survivors also include daughters-in-law, Lydia Smith Culver and Beth Keiningham Culver; and sons-in-law, Charles Kim McClean and Leon William (Bill) Carlile. L.L. took great delight in his five grandchildren, Laurel Anne (Culver) Flahive, Brian Paul Culver, Sarah Elizabeth McClean, Katherine Elizabeth (Katie) Culver, and Cameron Paul Culver; and great-grandchildren, Samuel Paul, Andrew Joel, Nora Rae, and Connor Daniel.
L.L. will be remembered by all who knew and loved him for his tenderness, his quiet strength, and his gracious demeanor.
Reed-Culver Funeral Home, 117 W. Delaware, 456-2551.
James Dean Smith
TAHLEQUAH -- Services for James Dean Smith, 29, of Tahlequah were held at 2 p.m., Monday, April 9, 2004, at D.D. Etcheison Methodist Church. Officiating was Rev. Virgil Holcomb and Eli Sequichi.
Serving as pallbearers were David Russell, Jonathan Smith, Justin McHurrin Mike Star, Mike Easte, and Kasey Russell. Honorary pallbearers were Jeff Fox, Mark Fox and Justin Burleson. Interment
followed in the Phillips Cemetery under the care of Green Country Funeral Home.
James Dean Smith was born Dec. 9, 1974, in Stuttergart, Germany. He passed from this life on April 8, 2004, in Anderson, Mo., at the age of 29 years, 3 months, and 29 days.
He had worked as a brick layer.
He is survived by Bobbi, his wife of nine years; sons, Jimmy Harlow and Jonathan Smith; a daughter Leigh Smith, all of the home; his parents Mike Allen and Debra Ann Hall Smith; brothers, Eric Smith and Michael Smith; a sister, Lisa Smith, all of Tahlequah; mother-in-law, Esther Ridge of the home; his adopted dad James Jackson and his wife Nicki of Noel, Mo.; an uncle, Billy Sequichie, special friend Anita Bird; and a host of other relatives, friends, and loved ones.
Green Country Funeral Home, 203 S. Commercial Road, 458-5055.
James Dean Smith
TAHLEQUAH -- Services for James Dean Smith, 29, of Tahlequah will be held at 2 p.m., Monday, April 12, 2004, at D.D. Etchieson Methodist Church, with Rev. Virgil Holcomb and Eli Sequichi officiating. Interment will follow in the Phillips Cemetery under the care of Green Country Funeral Home.
Pallbearers will be Jimmy Harlow, Jonathan Smith, Justin McHurrin, Mike Star, Mike Easter and Kasey Russell. Honorary pallbearers are Jeff Fox, Mark Fox and Justin Burleson.
James was born Dec. 9, 1974, in Stuttgart, Germany. He passed from this life on April 8, 2004, in Missouri. He had worked as a brick layer.
James is survived by Bobbi, his wife of nine years of the home; sons, Jimmy Harlow and Jonathan Smith, of the home; a daughter, Leigh Smith, of the home; mother-in-law, Esther Ridge, of the home; his adopted dad, James Jackson and his wife Nicki of Noel, Mo.; an uncle, Billy Sequichie; special friend Anita Bird; and a host of other relatives, friends, and loved ones.
Green Country Funeral Home, 203 S. Commercial Road, 458-5055.
Eleanore C. Anderson
SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- Services for Eleanore C. Anderson, 87, were held at 2 p.m., Saturday, April 10, 2004, at Westminster Presbyterian Church, with Rev. Dr. Paul M. Petersen officiating. Burial was in Greenlawn Memorial Gardens.
Eleanore Crummer Anderson, formerly of Hickman Court, Spartanburg, S.C., died Wednesday, April 7, 2004, at Ellen Sager Nursing Home in Union, S.C. Born July 14, 1916, in Grant Township, Pocahontas County, Iowa. She was the daughter of the late Raymond A. and Edla Gulgren Crummer, and the wife of the late Harold A. Anderson.
She attended rural schools in Pocahontas, Iowa, and graduated from Iowa State Teachers College, Cedar Falls, Iowa. She taught elementary school in rural Iowa, was past president of the Parent Teacher Association of Akron, Ohio; and later taught piano and organ at the Alexander Music House of Spartanburg, S.C.
Mrs. Anderson was a member of the Iris Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star, and a longtime member of Westminster Presbyterian Church of Spartanburg, S.C. She was ancestrally linked to Governor William Bradford of the Mayflower.
Survivors include a daughter, Kathleen Charlotte Daniel of Tahlequah; two sons, Raymond Alroy Anderson of Greensboro, N.C., and James Lee Anderson of Boiling Springs, S.C.; a sister, Lois Aileen Johnson of Webb, Iowa; several nieces and nephews, 12 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.
J.F. Floyd Mortuary, P.O. Drawer 1530, Spartanburg, S.C., 29304.
Ollie May Hair
TAHLEQUAH -- A wake service for Ollie May Hair, 68, will be held at 6 p.m., Monday, March 22, 2004, at Reed-Culver Funeral Home. The funeral for Ollie will be held at 10 a.m., Tuesday, March 23, 2004, at Reed-Culver Funeral Home Chapel. Burial will follow at Swimmer Cemetery under the direction of the Reed-Culver Funeral Home of Tahlequah.
Pallbearers are Tom Kingfisher, Eddie Fisher, Javier Quinones, Jimmy Dale Whitekiller, Charlie Jones and Butch Kingfisher. Honorary pallbearers are Ollie's nephews and great-nephews.
Ollie May Hair was born May 19, 1935, in Lost City, to Chester and Lula (Cochran) Hair. She passed from this life Thursday, March 18, 2004 in Tulsa.
Five brothers and three sisters preceded Ollie in death.
She is survived by her daughter, Brenda (Hair) Scott and husband Steven; a sister, Minnie Clinton; a grandson, Caleb Scott; six nephews and four nieces.
Reed-Culver Funeral Home, 117 W. Delaware, 456-2551.
