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© Billings Funeral Home Woodward
Reprinted with permission
Submitted by: Ann Weber
Colette Pantalone, 81 year old long time Mooreland resident, died Wednesday, February 26, 2020 at her home in Mooreland. Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:00 a.m. Thursday, March 5, 2020 at the St. Peter Catholic Church in Woodward. Burial will follow in the St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery in Mooreland. A Prayer Vigil and Rosary will be held at 6:00 p.m. Wednesday, March 4, 2020 at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Mooreland.
Colette Marie (Collier) Pantalone was born on July 20, 1938 in Mooreland, Oklahoma to Delbert Townes and Vaudeth Viola (Miller) Collier. She grew up in Mooreland and attended Mooreland schools and graduated from Mooreland High School. Colette was an All-State forward for the 1956 State Champion Mooreland High School girls basketball team, she was offered a scholarship to play basketball for the (Wayland Flying Queens) in Texas. One of her shining achievements was her record cumulative scoring of 118 points in the three game State Tournament stood untouched from 1956 until 1986. Scoring 42 points in the State Championship game vs. Byng, she hit a (buzzer beating) hook shot which resulted in a 69-67 victory! What a day that must have been for all who witnessed! She declined the (Flying Queens) offer to go to work at Oklahoma Gas & Electric in Woodward following high school, where she worked as a secretary from 1956 until 1964.
Her main goal in life was to be a loving wife and caring mother, of a family that would be created after her subsequent marriage to Maestro Ralph Pantalone on June 3, 1961 at the St. Peter Catholic Church in Woodward. They made their first home in an apartment in Mooreland before moving to 808 South Krouth, where they lived since that time. She went to work as a Elementary school Secretary at Mooreland Grade School and worked from 1977 until her retirement in 2000. Her gift in life was spreading kindness, and watching the love that followed flourish. She was a strong advocate for the underdog, offering encouragement to those who needed it. This decision to stay at home, work, and eventually marry the love of her life came to fruition, and so very many people benefited from it. Looking back on a life well lived, she benefited greatly as well. The outpouring of love and support to her, and us, her family, from the Mooreland community, and beyond, is evidence of this truth. We are beyond blessed to have known her, and doubly blessed to be her family. She was steadfast in this way of life in whatever she was doing, and wherever she happened to be during her lifes journey. She lived life out loud. Helping her kiddos, especially the underdogs, at the elementary school where she served as secretary, school nurse, school lunch bookkeeper, to name just a few of the hats she wore while doing so. She was a listening ear, a consoling presence, a determined child advocate, and her passion for creating love through acts of kindness shone brightly in all she did.
Colette loved being with the love of her life, Maestro Ralph Pantalone. She loved taking walks together with him, and discovering new walking paths while doing so. Boiling Springs, Twin Lakes in Pennsylvania, and any path in which they traveled, she loved it all, and she loved her lifes companion, Maestro Pantalone, even more. She and dad were inseparable, walking lifes literal and figurative paths. She loved following him to manage the kiddos as she so affectionately referred to Mr. Pantalones students. Among other things, she was the music finder, the uniform fixer, the plume adjuster, the performance recorder, and the calming presence always beside my dad. They were a highly functioning team. This team would not have succeeded as they did, and so seemingly effortlessly, one without the other. She loved dearly her two sons, Ralph and Nick, and her two granddaughters, Grace and Ella Pantalone. Along with her husband, her sons and granddaughters hung the moon. She loved watching all of us grow and learn, attending every school activity she could, and she was always our biggest fan. She loved playing games with us, making crafts in the craft room, and listening for hours on end to the telling, and retelling, of every event unfolding in our lives. Whether large or small to us, these events were of the utmost importance to a Mom, and a Granny, who knew a love without boundaries, a love without end. She loved seeing new places, things and people, her annual summer trips to the large Italian family in Pennsylvania. Ten brothers and sisters in law, and 25 beloved nieces and nephews, she would relish these road trips with her immediate family, Ralph, Ralph III, and Nick, and after her father passed, her mother, Vaudeth Collier (Granny) coming along. She loved her trips to Albuquerque, New Mexico, as well, to see her beloved nieces and nephews, the children of her brother Gilbert and wife Verna. More journeys with the same immediate family to Sweeny, Texas were also a highlight, to visit even more beloved nieces, nephews, and family the children of brother-in-law Joe and wife Eloise Pantalone. The list of family members on both sides is so exhaustive that all cannot be named in this writing, yet each of them felt the strong love, caring attention, and enduring kindness that she so effortlessly displayed.
Colette loved the family farm just 5-6 miles north of Mooreland on Highway 50, and the memories she shared with her family there. Being a good bit younger than her brothers Gilbert and Gary Collier, she adored each of them and helped a great deal with the farm chores when her brothers left the family home. With her father, Delbert Collier, who called her (The Kid) and her mother, Vaudeth, she was able to fill in when her brothers left for college. Along with her dad, she arose early every day before school to milk the cows, showed Chester White pigs, helped with the daily farm chores, all the while maintaining a work ethic to further her love of basketball. Practicing everyday and often times being able to hit 49 of 50 free throws due to these efforts. She loved the game of basketball all of her life, and she loved the Chicago Bulls of the 1980s and 1990s, particularly watching Michael Jordan perform feats of greatness on, and off, the court. Of late, she was an avid OKC Thunder fan, and enjoyed watching Thunder ballgames with her sons. She was a true student of the game, and one would know this truth after having watched only one game with her. She was also an avid OU Sooner fan. Over the past several years, she loved taking sunrise pictures and sharing them with friends on Facebook. She had quite a following on Facebook, and she was always eager to get to her perfect spot, just before the sunrise, to capture the perfect picture. Accompanying her on one of her sunrise journeys was a blessing to be forever remembered. She incorporated these sunrise pictures into her daily 3-4 mile walk which she had been doing beforehand for at least the past 35 years. These sunrise pictures were yet another embodiment of her passion to spread kindness, and Gods beauty, through yet another medium well into her retirement years.
Over the past nine years, she loved sharing her beautiful voice while cantering at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Mooreland. Her love of God, and her passion to spread joy and kindness, was yet another opportunity to spread her love of joy, and passion for kindness, as she walked lifes journey.
She was a member of the Altar Society at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Womens Bible Study Group at church, and the Red Hat Society in Mooreland. She enjoyed making crafts with her granddaughters, crocheting, volunteering on Wednesdays with friends at The Corner, watching basketball, and hearing about all things her sons and granddaughters enjoyed doing.
Colette is survived by her two sons: Ralph Pantalone III, Nick Pantalone and fiance Heather Comerate, who provided love and care while Colette was recovering from her nearly year long battle with cancer. Colette often referred to her as her daughter, and they enjoyed nearly five years of wonderful friendship together; granddaughters, Grace Pantalone and Ella Pantalone; sister-in-law, Verna Collier, sister-in-law, Audrey Collier; Heather’s daughters: Cora and Sicily; other relatives and many friends. Colette also treasured her extended family all across the country, and longtime friends from the Mooreland community. She enjoyed keeping up with a good number of them, including her high school classmates and members of the 1956 MHS girls State Championship basketball team: Flossie, Leola, Sandra, to name a few. She enjoyed her daily morning coffee visits with her friend, and longtime neighbor, Harold Smith. Having each lost their respective spouses over a short time period, they were a source of great understanding and healing for each other. Colette enjoyed fun times while visiting with Heatherâ's two daughters, who enjoyed time with her as well. A prolific sender of greeting cards, a (pen pal) relationship soon developed with Heathers mother Carol. She also enjoyed visiting with Carol and her husband, Marv. She was also looking forward to meeting Heatherâ's extended family in California, but while this had not happened yet, she was joyful in the welcoming of new and wonderful family in her life. Colette was most joyful when supporting others, especially her family. The latest example of this is the outpouring of love, care and support she showed for her younger granddaughter, Ella, during Ellas bout with thyroid cancer that began nearly three years ago. While Ella is very healthy now, Mom was there for her all the while. From the hospitals and surgeries, to the long talks afterwards, from painting the swing set and tire swing the colors of thyroid cancer, to wearing the thyroid cancer bracelet with pride, to religiously filling, and refilling, Ellas thyroid colored piggy bank which her Granny got her, and the encouraging cards in the mail, Ella felt the love that only her Granny could give. She was preceded in death by her husband Ralph Pantalone, father Delbert Collier, mother Vaudeth Collier, brother Gary Collier, brother Gilbert Collier, nephew Joel Collier, niece Debbie Collier, and niece Danielle Pantalone.
A word of thanks to the Mooreland community from the family: She loved her Mooreland community with great passion. Through my moms passing, and through her life well lived, and her love freely given, we, her family, have witnessed firsthand this lifelong community unfolding before our very eyes, and changing us forever. All of you have reminded us that Community is not just a word. Community is a living, breathing, tangible force that, once activated, in this instance through my mothers passing, can conjure the faith to move mountains. Can cause our weary hearts to regain a foothold toward strength anew. Through you, and with Gods help, we can see the light in the darkness... and by your acts of love and kindness, we now know that the darkness shall not overcome it. Thank you for being our Community of Light. Thank you for shining so brightly during our darkest hours. Thank you for reminding us that our beloved mother, granny, aunt, sister, daughter and friend is now dancing with my father..... enjoying the Heavenly Masterpiece he has been preparing for her arrival. She has now returned to a peace of mind, a wholeness of body, and a restoration of spirit, that surpasses all human understanding. As she put it just days, even hours, before her death: it was time for her to go home to the big home over the hill. Rest assured, she is leaning into Gods healing hands this very moment, this very hour, with a feeling of deep and everlasting peace. A peace that has relieved all of her earthly suffering and made her whole once again.
Memorial contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society, at cancer.org or the funeral home will receive contributions for the family.