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Longtime Norman residents Bill and Imogene Meyer welcomed their first and only child, Maxine Janet Meyer, on September 16, 1935. With little fondness for her rarely-disclosed first name, she settled on "Jan" as the person friends and family would know and love throughout her life. Aside from her father's brief military assignment at Fort Reno, Oklahoma during WWII, Norman was always home to Jan.
After her "Tiger" years at Norman High School, Jan attended the University of Oklahoma and was a diehard Sooner fan—cheering with her own set of pom pons in hand—all her life. But when she met a farm boy from the 10-child McGee family in the Washington-Goldsby area, Jan quit her college career to support his. Delbert Horace McGee and Jan married on June 8, 1957 at Norman's McFarlin Methodist Church. Delbert enjoyed carpentry and painting while working for the FAA in Oklahoma City. Jan worked for an insurance company and later at the Norman Hospital.
But the orbit of their world found its star with the arrival of their only child, Susan Lynn McGee, on January 19, 1971, undoubtedly the happiest moment of their lives. From that day until her last, Jan's life was mostly "eat, sleep, and Susan." Jan and Imogene kept Susan busy with homemade costumes for and transportation to lessons, contests and performances in dancing, tap, twirling, OU theater productions, modeling, cheerleading and beauty pageants.
Jan's focus changed when at age 11 Susan picked up the hobby of Jan's father, Bill: playing the fiddle by ear. Jan facilitated Susan's teen years while she accompanied and studied under the nation's best fiddle players.
hen she wasn't applauding for Susan at thousands of events, Jan focused on friends, family and church, with a particular affinity for collecting teapots. At the time of her death she had collected nearly 300 full-size porcelain models, though she didn't drink tea.
Jan's parents, Bill and Imogene Meyer, passed away in 1987 and 2011 respectively. Jan was Delbert's tireless caretaker during his 11-year battle with non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. He died just before Christmas in 2002. Herself a cancer survivor, Jan's health began to decline in 2018 so she moved to Oklahoma City to be nearer her family. She is survived by her daughter and son-in law, Susan and Tim Oden, and by grandson Tuck and wife Jamila Oden with great-grandson Tommy, and grandson Avery Oden, all of Oklahoma City. She will be interred alongside her late husband at the I.O.O.F. Cemetery in Norman.
Visitation will be held on Monday, January 20, 2020, from 10:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. with the family receiving friends between 6:00 until 8:00 p.m. at Havenbrook Funeral Home in Norman.
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