Ann Maydell Purvis

© Cheyenne Star

24 Apr 2014

Submitted by: Wanda Purcell

Maydell Purvis, 89, passed away March 17, 2014. This followed a few difficult years with Alzheimer's.

Maydell survived her husband, Dick, whose death in 2011 ended almost 65 years of committed marriage.

Both had lives shaped by early years in both the Depression and the Dust Bowl, bolstering later optimism and family commitment in good and bad times. In those hard times she came to idolize both her mother, Rachel and brother, Lee Roark as strong influences throughout.

She was also left with great distaste for even a slightly windy day.

Maydell trained as a Registered Nurse with the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps, graduating from training in Norman, Oklahoma at the end of World War II. She thereafter spent many years in the nursing profession, most of them in Arizona after a family relocation to Tucson in 1956. Over the years she worked at Tucson Medical Center, in the offices of Doctors Czerny, Cogswell and Ramsey, Visiting Nurses and the Red Cross.

Maydell loved to dance with her husband, having first met at a community dance in the Reydon, Oklahoma area. Over the years it was not unusual to see them take an impromptu waltz around the living room. Both were as close to devoid of all vices as two people could be, if you forgive her penchant for nickel slots while visiting family in Nevada. The also loved to play cards over the kitchen table with their closest friends.

Maydell, first and foremost, was committed to her children. No sacrifice was too severe, as both she and her husband spent years doing nothing for themselves while providing the kids with gifts of many sorts, all beyond those reasonably deserved.

She also had an ardent political voice, working diligently at various issues for much of the last twenty years of her life. Some confused her efforts with animosity towards some people and organizations, but in the end Maydell was one of the most loving and forgiving of all people.

On multiple occasions, she and Dick cared for small children displaced by various dIsruptions in their families, sometimes for months.

Maydell also had a great love for pets to include her Collie, Vicky in the 60's and 70's and Rottweilers, Elsa and Euli in more recent years.

Maydell joins siblings Lee, Claude and Helen, all prior deceased.

She is survived by sister, Polly; children, Cheryl and Gary; grandson, Scot and numerous others to include nephews and their families, many continuing to live near her birthplace in western Oklahoma.

No thanks is too great for those who cared for Maydell throughout the years, to include Dr. Kenneth Adler, Dr. Martha Duchon and crew, Belinda Rhodeos and above all, the terrific staff at Immaculate Care Home, Lowela and Helen foremost.

Burial was in East Lawn Palms Cemetery, Tucson, Arizona on 26 Mar 2014 under the direction of Desert Rose Heather Mortuary.

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