Vernetta Thur

© The Chickasha Express-Star

June 2006

Submitted by: Alex Carter

Vernetta Pauline Wright Thur, 84, long-time resident of Lone Wolf, Oklahoma died Sunday, June 18, 2006 at Glenhaven Retirement Village, Chickasha, Oklahoma.

Vernetta was born April 9, 1922 near Sentinel, Oklahoma in Washita County to Everett Clinton and Marvin Elizabeth [McWhirter] Wright.

She graduated Lone Wolf High School in 1940 and from Draughhon's School of Business, Oklahoma City being certified in accounting and secretarial science in 1941. She was also certified in Early Childhood Development from various colleges in Oklahoma.

She married Marvin Thur, her high school sweetheart on December 28, 1941 at Zion Lutheran Church in Oklahoma City. They were married 56 years before Marvin passed away on May 3, 1998.

Vernetta worked at the office of the Quartermaster General in Washington, D.C. from 1942-1945.

Some years after Vernetta and Marvin returned to Oklahoma to farm, she was an accountant at Caudill Motors, Hobert, Oklahoma for 10 years.

For 20 years until her retirement in 1987, she was Head Start Director of a five county Community Action Program in Southwest Oklahoma.

She was currently a member of Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church in Chickasha, Oklahoma but had been a member of First Lutheran in Hobart, Oklahoma for 50 years. Over the years she participated in Women of the Church and church council, taught Sunday School and VBS, was a choir member and a part of Summer Camp at Oaks, Oklahoma. She had also been a member of the Chrysanthemum Garden Club in Lone Wolf for a number of years.

Preceding Vernetta in death were her parents, husband, Marvin, an infant sister, Dorthy Lee and two infant children, Alan Marvin and Elaine Marie.

She is survived by two daughters, Sharon and husband, Glen Cress, Friendswood, Texas and Cynthia and husband, Charles Wheeler, Chickasha, Oklahoma; her grandchildren, Derek Cress, Dallas, Texas; Matthew Wheeler, San Diego, California; Erin [Cress] and husband, Paul Higgins, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma; Adam and wife, Leia Wheeler, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Her great grandchildren, Noah Alexander and Riley Elizabeth Higgins, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma; a sister, Mildred and husband, Nathan Jackson, Blair, Oklahoma and sister-in-law, Evelyn Bass, Enid, Oklahoma.

Funeral services for Vernetta Thur will be Thursday, June 22, 2006 at 2:00 p.m. at the First Lutheran Church, Hobart, Oklahoma with Pastors Gil Mueller and Brian Willingham officiating.

Interment will be in Lone Wolf Cemetery under the direction of People's Cooperative Funeral Home, Lone Wolf.

Memorial contributions may be made to First Lutheran Memorial Fund in Hobart, Oklahoma; Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church, Chickasha, Oklahoma, or the American Parkinson Disease Association or American Heart Assocation.