|
| |
Vernita Pauline Price was born on July 12, 1934, at Shattuck, Oklahoma, to Walter Vernon Price and Vivian Pauline Hamre Price. In her early years the family lived with her Hamre grandparents in Arnett. Vee’s special friend was their tenant, Miss Vivian Sears. Vee played with her pets and the children in Sunday School at the Methodist Church, where she was baptized. Vee visited her Price grandparents’ shoe shop on the square and frequented the bakery run by Edith and Ike Lewright. At age 4 ½, Vee welcomed her little sister, Sandra Claire.
Vee’s family experienced turmoil and upheaval during the war years. Vee’s father survived prison camp in Germany but her parents divorced soon after war’s end. Vee and Sandra remained with their father in Arnett. Vee approached adolescence facing adjustments such as a new stepmother, Berna Deane, the arrival of baby brother Roger and later a sister, Verna. In high school, Vee played basketball and softball and ran around with her Rupprecht cousins -- Yvonne, Charles, and Walter. Vee graduated with the Class of 1952 and enrolled in a nursing course at Mercy Hospital in Oklahoma City. In the fall, she received news of the birth of her youngest sister, Golda.
Vee decided that a nursing career was not for her, but she later put her skills to good use as a nurses’ aide. After completing a business course, Vee was employed by Farmers Union Insurance Company in Oklahoma City. She met Lenard Umphers, who was stationed at Tinker Air Force Base, and the two married in 1955. In a few years Vee decided marriage wasn’t for her either and the pair divorced.
After a brief residence in Amarillo, Texas, Vee headed off to northern California. It was the early 1960s, and Vee later recounted living in the Haight Ashbury district of San Francisco. Vee loved camping trips to Russian River and riding her motorcycle. For several years Vee worked at Brooks Cameras where she was the first editor of their newsletter, “Babbling Brooks.” When Brooks closed their doors, she finished her career at Trans America, making wonderful friends and volunteering for charity with her co-workers.
Vee retired and went home to Oklahoma, living first in Norman and then Arnett. She reconnected with her family, old friends, and church. But her heart was still in San Francisco, or at least nearby Sonoma. Vee returned to California in 2003, lived at Grants Pass, Oregon for a few years, then moved to Woodward, Oklahoma, in 2016. Vee appreciated her gracious neighbors on Edgewood Drive and was well looked after by nephew Ryan, Robyn, Caroline, and Connor Price. With Connor, Vee shared a birthday as well as a spirited ongoing discussion of merits of various sports teams.
Vee suffered a stroke in May of 2020. After weeks in Oklahoma City at Mercy Hospital and the rehab center, Vee entered the Shattuck Nursing Center in late July. Covid restrictions were a hardship, but Vee enjoyed phone calls and window visits. Her biggest concern and sorrow was that she had to be parted from her beloved cat, GluStik.
Vee completed her earthly journey on December 23, 2020. Friends and family remember her feistiness, fierce independence, and sometimes uninhibited manner of speaking. Vee loved cats and dogs, coffee, California, the Golden State Warriors, the San Francisco 49ers, the OU Sooners, orchids, the color purple, and sloths.
Vee was preceded in death by her parents and her stepmother. She is survived by sister Sandra Price of Greenville, Texas, brother Roger Price and Sharon of Shattuck, Oklahoma, sister Verna Davis and Ronnie of Arnett, Oklahoma, sister Golda Blythe and Phil of Lewisville, Texas, an aunt - Jocelynn Gray of Bellevue, Nebraska, numerous nieces and nephews, and a host of friends including Susan Kwong and Richard Thompson, who provided generous assistance and support to Vee in her last years in the western states.
Vee’s family is thankful for the kind and caring nursing staff at Newman Memorial Hospital and the staff of Traditions Hospice. We appreciate especially the wonderful nurses at the Shattuck Nursing Center, who showered Vee with gifts, decorations for her room, special treats, and other acts of kindness in a difficult time of pandemic.
Memorials may be made to the United Methodist Church, Arnett.
Memorial Service Wednesday, January 13, 2021 11:00 AM United Methodist Church Arnett, OK 73832
Interment was at DeBolt Cemetery, Arnett, OK.
This site may be freely linked, but not duplicated in any way without consent.
All rights reserved! Commercial use of material within this site is prohibited!
© 2000-2024 Oklahoma CemeteriesThe information on this site is provided free for the purpose of researching your genealogy. This material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, for your own research, as long as this message remains on all copied material. The information contained in this site may not be copied to any other site without written "snail-mail" permission. If you wish to have a copy of a donor's material, you must have their permission. All information found on these pages is under copyright of Oklahoma Cemeteries. This is to protect any and all information donated. The original submitter or source of the information will retain their copyright. Unless otherwise stated, any donated material is given to Oklahoma Cemeteries to make it available online. This material will always be available at no cost, it will always remain free to the researcher.