Vashti Inez Stephens of Marlow, Oklahoma was born October 15, 1906, in Hamby, Texas. The daughter of Oliver Hickam and Mary Ella Moses Hickam, the eldest of 6 children. She died in Duncan, Oklahoma on February 28, 2004. She attended school at Union Hill. She became a Christian at the age of 15.
She and Clyde Eugene Stephens were married August 23, 1924 in Chickasha, Oklahoma. After their marriage they ade their home in Grady County, where they engaged in dairy and farming, retiring from the Alex area in 1972 when they moved to Marlow, Oklahoma.
She was preceded in death by both parents, her husband, Clyde Eugene Stephens, on April 5, 1990, son of Kenneth Clyde Stephens, in 1933, daughter Ruby Yvonne Stephens in 1938, and daughter Betty Colleen Malone, on October 9, 2001.
She was also preceded in death by brother Ulysses Samuel Hickam, sister, LaVada Pearl Hickam, a brother Jerald Oliver Hickam, son-in-law A. J. Simpson, Jr., and 1 great grandson, A. J. Joseph Marinko.
She is survived by daughter, Geneva Lou Simpson of Marlow, Oklahoma; sons and their wives, Herman Wright and Marleta Stephens of Chickasha, Oklahoma, Arvin Eugene "Gene" and Karen Stephens of Ninnekah, Oklahoma; grandchildren Judy Hofman and Darlene Welch of Marlow, Oklahoma, Bobby Malone of Wichita Falls, Texas, Nancy Enright and Roxanne Null of Chickasha, Oklahoma, Stacy Lynn Bull of Fort Gibson, Oklahoma, Stephanie Popp of Tennessee, and Damon Eugene Stephens of Ninnekah, Oklahoma; 25 great grandchildren, 1 great great grandchild. A brother, Herman Leo Hickam, of Alabama, a sister, Tessie Joella Wilson, of
California, and a host of other relatives and friends also survive her.
Services will be held on March 2, 2004, under the direction of Callaway-Smith-Cobb Funeral Home in Marlow, Oklahoma, at the Ninnekah Baptist Church, with interment at Ninnekah Cemetery in Ninnekah, Oklahoma.
