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Oklahoma City, Oklahoma - Vicki Garber, the daughter and granddaughter of a prominent pioneer family that did much to build Northwest Oklahoma and Enid, died at the Mansion at Waterford in Oklahoma City on May 5, 2026. Vicki was born in Enid, Oklahoma, on November 20, 1945, the daughter of Martin and Theresa Thompson Garber.
She was raised and educated in Enid and Bethesda, Maryland, when her father occupied a high administrative position in the Department of Agriculture under President Eisenhower as Director of the Federal School Lunch Program.
She was a graduate of Phillips University and a long-time member of Central Christian Church of Enid.
She was married to Bruce Miller and Jere Sturgis, both marriages ended in divorce, and she had three children: "Buzz" (Bruce), Andrea Golgart, and a daughter, Janet, who predeceased her.
She was a member of Enid and Oklahoma City PEO chapters and enjoyed gardening and spending time at the family cottage each year in Alexandria, Minnesota.
Her daughter, Andrea Golgart, and her husband, Dale Golgart of Arcadia, survive her, as do two grandchildren and one brother, Martin Garber Jr., and his wife, Karen Crosslin Garber of Bartlesville. One sister, Patti Garber McKay, predeceased her, as did Buzz and Janet, and her parents.
Vicki was a leader in the Enid community as president of the Junior Welfare League in 1980. She had a wide circle of friends in this community before she moved to Oklahoma City to be closer to her daughter and grandchildren. She and Aaron Bush, for the years they were close personal friends, spent a part of each year in the Bahamas.
Brown-Cummings Funeral Home handled the final arrangements. Vicki was cremated, and her circle of friends will later have a memorial luncheon in her memory and share the good times they all spent together, some from high school, through their years as young mothers, wives, and grandmothers, and always friends.
Vicki was especially proud of being a Garber. Her grandfather, M.C. Garber, was a United States congressman from this district from 1923 to 1933, when he was defeated in the Democratic landslide of that year by Earnest W. Marland, the owner of Marland Oil of Ponca City. Her father, who served in the Oklahoma House of Representatives, was chairman of the Oklahoma Highway Commission by appointment of the first Republican elected governor, Henry Bellmon, and continued in that position by Governor Dewey Bartlett. He also led the efforts for President Richard Nixon in Oklahoma in 1968. Vicki's grandfather and his wife, Lucy Garber, and other members of the Garber family, for three generations, with the Taylor family, operated and managed the Enid Publishing Company, which published The Enid Morning News, The Enid Daily Eagle, and The Enid Sunday News.
Vicki was a strong-willed woman who faced adversity with determination that it would not destroy her or her family. The death of an infant daughter, the death of her son, who was a law clerk to a member of the Oklahoma Supreme Court, two divorces, and a husband who was indicted and acquitted in a trial in the United States District Court in Chicago, and her multiple medical issues did not daunt her courage or perseverance. She was also a gracious hostess; she and Jere were host to former President Richard Nixon, a guest in their home, when he came to Enid in 1981 to honor Henry Bellmon and Dewey Bartlett and their wives.
Her true grit, her open personality, candor, respect for faith and family, and love of Enid were the dominant themes of her life. May she rest in peace.
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