Lavone Mangan O'Grady

© Enid News and Eagle

08-27-2013

Submitted by: Glenn

© Enid News and Eagle

ENID, Okla. — Lavone O’Grady, 83, passed peacefully from this life on the morning of August 25, 2013, with her children by her side. In that instant, 25 years of blindness was healed and she saw the face of her Lord.

Services have been entrusted to the care of Palmer Marler Funeral Home and a graveside service celebrating Lavone’s life will be held at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, August 28, at the Cherokee Municipal Cemetery in Cherokee, OK. Visitation will be held today, Aug. 27 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Lanman Funeral Home in Cherokee.

Lavone, better known as “Mima,” was born on April 23, 1930, to Richard Pearce and Jeanette Elizabeth Mangan in Denver, CO. She grew up in the Leadville, CO, area before moving to Billings, OK, where she attended and graduated from Billings High School. Following her graduation, she relocated to Enid, where she attended the Enid Business College. While in Enid, she met and married Thomas Edward O’Grady. They shared 24 years of marriage and had four wonderful children, Denina Sue, Ladona Kaye, Cynthia Rae and Joseph Wayne.

Lavone enjoyed being a mother and welcomed all the children in the neighborhood in her home. She was a PTA mom, a homeroom mother, and she led the local Bluebird and Girl Scout groups. She enjoyed water skiing, camping at the lake, being on bowling league teams, and she could recite every word of all 256 episodes of MASH by memory. There were few things she enjoyed more than reading. Once she became legally blind, she listened to thousands of books on tape provided to her by the Oklahoma Library for the Blind.

Lavone spent nearly 30 years working for the Enid News & Eagle as a bookkeeper in the circulation department. She eventually retired due to her deteriorating eyesight. In the late ’80s, after many surgeries and procedures, Lavone went completely blind. She continued to live alone and take of herself for nearly five years before eventually relocating to Cherokee, OK, at the insistence of her son-in-law, Edward Puffinbarger. Mima spent many of her happiest years living in Cherokee with Ladona and Edward.

Mima’s disability never slowed her zest for life. She made the best of any situation and maintained as much independence as her blindness would allow. She was a bit stubborn and quite picky, but she rarely complained about her difficult circumstances.

While she had only been able to see her grandchildrens’ faces 20+ years ago, she could explain exactly what they looked like today with great accuracy and detail.

Her blindness made her a great listener and she always had a story or good advice to give to anyone who would listen. She never achieved fame or fortune and she never dined with royalty, but she meant everything to her family and they take comfort in knowing that tonight she is dining with royalty and walking on streets of gold.

Lavone O’Grady possessed a quiet strength and lived a life that has inspired many people. She was a loving mother, a proud grandmother, and a loyal friend who will be missed by all who knew her.

Lavone was greeted in heaven by her parents, a daughter, Ladona Puffinbarger, and an infant son, Joseph Wayne O’Grady; sister and brother-in-law, Peggy and Toby Craddock. Left to carry on her legacy of compassion are her two daughters Sue Marler-Ray and husband Jack, of Norman, and Cindy Dancer of Yukon; son-in-law, Edward Puffinbarger; six grandchildren, Jason Marler and wife Nicole of Edmond, Josh Marler and Amber Lane of Stillwater, Kelli Arnold and husband Kolby of Cherokee, Kyle Puffinbarger and wife Kendra of Cherokee, Sheena Pritchett Jorgenson and husband Erik of Bradford, PA, Jessie Dancer of Yukon. Six great-grandchildren, Piper, Jaxon, Grant, Kaysen, Lanie and Seth.

The family wishes to express their thanks to Dr. Tom Snyder, Ross Healthcare and Greenbriar Nursing Home for their compassionate care. They would also like to thank caregivers Linda Perez and “the son she never had, Edward Puffinbarger, for making Lavone’s last few years of her life some of her best years of her life.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Lavone’s name to the OK Library for the blind.

Condolences may be sent to the family via an online guestbook at www.pmcfh.com or on facebook.com/pmcfh.

(Submitted by family)

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