Services for Dorothy Elizabeth Sliger, 98, of Ada are 10:00 a.m. Thursday at the Criswell Funeral Home Chapel, Rev. Jimmy Hoffman and Samuel Caton will officiate. Burial will follow at Highland Cemetery near Stonewall. The family will receive friends from 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. Wednesday at Criswell Funeral Home.
Mrs. Sliger passed away Sunday, December 27, 2015 in Ada, OK. She was born October 8, 1917 at Gentry, Arkansas to Samuel Lewis and Lydia Avis Whiteside Atkins. She graduated from Gentry High School in 1935. She attended John Brown University in Siloam Springs, AR receiving a Teaching Certificate in 1936.
She taught school at Black Jack and Pleasant Grove in Arkansas. She moved to St. Louis, MO to work at a canning and ammunition factory for a short period during World War II. She went back to college at the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville before marrying Thurman Homer Sliger May 29, 1944 in Pageland, SC. He preceded her in death September 16, 2005. Dorothy was a homemaker and partner with her husband in their farming/ranching operation in the Vanoss community for 30 years. She also attended East Central University for several years during this time. After leaving the Vanoss cattle ranch, Dorothy and Homer owned and managed a motel in Kingston for a time, were gatekeepers several summers for campgrounds on OK state parks. They also owned and operated a small farm in Durant and Idabel before returning to the Ada area in 1998. Mrs. Sliger was a member of the Homer Baptist Church.
Survivors include her children, Donald Lee Sliger, Idabel; Karen Gayle Sliger Colbert and husband Billy, Ft. Worth, TX; Judith Sliger Grisso and husband Gary, Oakman and Howard W. Sliger and wife Pauline, Ada; 16 grandchildren, Lee Allen Sliger, Yukon; Taleesha Sliger, Lacey Sorrels and Lyndsey Attaway and husband Garrett, all of Idabel; Cliff Colbert and wife Ellen, Joshua; TX, Philip Colbert and James Colbert, both of Ft. Worth, TX; Russell Caton, Stratford; Michael Caton, Mesquite, TX; Stephen Caton and wife Sherri, Oakman; Elizabeth Caton, Chicago, IL; Samuel Caton and wife Catie, Stratford; Brad Sliger and wife Andrea, Norman; Ryan Sliger, McAlester; Adria Sharp and husband Matt, Shelbyville, TN; and Tyler Gurry, Ada; 1 brother, Harold Atkins and wife Vola of San Antonio, TX; 2 Sister-in-laws, Earlene Atkins and Ressie Atkins of Madison, MS; 19 great-grandchildren, Karl, Katy, Kera Leigh, and Russell A. Caton, Jonny Reisinger, Kristin Kettle, Arion, Adyson Caton, Maddie Bell Caton, Warren Colbert, Sawyer and Carson Colbert, Elissa and Easton Sorrels, Garret Jr. and Gavin Attaway, Kay, Ellie and John Gurry, and Claire Sliger; and numerous nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband; and her siblings, J. D. Atkins, Audrey Moffet, Wayne Atkins, Willis Dean Atkins and Darrell Atkins.
Bearers will be her grandsons, Cliff Colbert, Philip Colbert, James Colbert, Russell Caton, Michael Caton, Stephen Caton, Samuel Caton, Brad Sliger, Ryan Sliger and Tyler Gurry. Honorary bearers will be her great-grandsons.
The family says those who wish may make memorials to any one of Mrs. Sligers favorite charities: St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105-1905; The Salvation Army Central Oklahoma Area Command, 1001 N Pennsylvania Avenue, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, 73107; or the American Juvenile Diabetes Association, 26 Broadway, 14th Floor, New York, NY 10004.
Obituaries may be viewed and online condolences sent to criswellfh.com.
Criswell Funeral Home, Ada
