Jan Pauline Willey Harris, daughter, sister, wife, mother, aunt, and teacher, passed into the arms of God on November 5, 2024. Jan, or “Aunt Jane,” was born November 15, 1927, in Hartman, AR, the fourth child of Ed and Allie Willey. She grew up in the mountains of Arkansas during the depression in a family full of life and laughter and love. Jan told stories of her mother’s cooking, her father’s strength, and her brother’s antics. Circuit riding preachers, swimming in the creek, driving to the hospital backward because her sister couldn’t get the truck out of reverse, the boys going to war, were all just part of life.
Jan graduated with honors from Clarksville Arkansas High School in May 1945. Her father insisted that one of his children would go to college, so he enrolled her in the College of the Ozarks, where she studied for two years. In 1947, Jan’s parents agreed to let her move to Ada, OK to help her sister with a growing family and attend East Central State College. At East Central she studied education and met the love of her life, Burl Harris. They graduated together in May 1949 and were married in Clarksville, AR, on July 5, 1949. When Burl was called up for the Korean War, Jan lived with her in-laws in Memphis. She went to visit Burl in Portsmouth, Virginia and decided to stay. She taught 3rd grade in the Portsmouth Schools and lived in a bungalow on the beach, within sight of the Burl’s ship.
When Burl was discharged in August 1952, the couple moved to Norman, OK. Burl enrolled in law school and Jan taught home economics at Taft Jr. High in Oklahoma City. Upon graduation from law school, they moved to Ada and settled in to raise a family. Jan was active in the community and the lives of her niece and nephews. When her first child was born in 1958 she became a stay-at-home mom and was a wonderful mother, showing her love through hugs, homemade cookies, and patience. Jan received a Master’s in Education in 1968 and returned to teaching in the Ada Schools in 1974, retiring in 1991.
Throughout her life, she worked to support the family; never missing one of her children’s concerts or basketball games. She worked at her husband’s side to clear land on their ranch and, always true to her roots, she raised a garden and canned the harvest. Many who knew her shared in the bounty of the pear tree; pear honey, pear preserves, pear cake, pear wine.
Jan also loved to travel. As a young family there were car trips to Arkansas, the 1968 World’s Fair in San Antonio, and Spring breaks on Padre. In retirement, she and Burl explored the Colorado Rockies, ate pizza in Mystic, Connecticut, followed the Lewis and Clark trail from St. Louis to the Pacific, and enjoyed fresh croissants in Europe. In the later years she and Dawn-Carole took many memorable trips together; glaciers in Alaska and fall in New Hampshire. One of Jan’s favorite places to visit was Sonic with her daughter, where they enjoyed onion rings, ice cream cones, and conversation. She will be missed.
Survivors include her daughter, Dawn Carole Harris; brother-in-law, James D. Harris; nieces and nephews Loyleta Cacy, Kenneth Butler, Charles Butler, Norman Butler, Deanna Welch, Beverly Miller, David Harris, Patty Kokocki, Diane Harris, Cindy Harris.
Jan was preceded in death by parents, Ed and Allie Willey; her husband, Burl; son, Richard Harris; brothers, Edward Milton Willey and Stewart Willey; and sister, Letia Butler.
Honorary pall bearers are Kenneth Butler, Charles Butler, Norman Butler, Pete Welch, Doug Miller, Don Griffith, Steve Romero, Mica Cacy, and Cliff Thurman.
A Celebration of Life Service for Janis Pauline Willey Harris, 96, will be on November 12, 2024, at 1:00 p.m. at the Criswell Funeral Home Chapel; Rev. Dr. David Daniel will officiate. Burial will follow at Rosedale Cemetery.
The family requests donations be made to First Methodist Church, 129 W. 14th, Ada, OK 74820 or ECU Foundation, c/o ECU, Box Y-8, Ada, OK 74821.
To Mom:
“I’m so sorry for your loss.” As if you’re lost, like a purse or misplaced keys. It’s a phrase we all tend to use, but it does not apply to you. I find you in my eyes and smile, and the way I carry myself. I see you in the way I tilt my head and hear you in my laugh. I feel you when the sun warms my face and the wind tousles my hair. I haven’t lost you, Mom. That could never happen. You’re present everywhere, most of all in me.
Criswell Funeral Home, Ada
