Edith Gant

Edith was born in Hammond, Indiana, along with her twin brother, James on July 19, 1923. Her parents, Richard and Nellie Fletcher, moved the family to Elmhurst, Illinois (outside of Chicago) where Edith attended the public high school and graduated in June of 1941.

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Edith felt the need to help and became involved with the USO. Driven to do more, in 1944 she joined the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Services) as soon as she turned 21 and attended basic training at Hunter College in New York with the Navy. Edith was proud to be in the Navy and a charter member of the Women’s Military Memorial in Washington D.C. Her final assignment was in Washington, D.C. where she met her husband, James (Jim) Gant, who was a patient in the hospital at Quantico, Virginia. Jim was working as a civilian welder for the Navy at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 and soon after joined the Marines. They both left the military after the war ended and were married on November 28, 1946.

They moved to Dallas, Texas to begin their married life where Edith worked as a bookkeeper until her first child, Karen (Gant) Vollbrecht, was born in 1948. Her second daughter Mary Ann (Gant) Woodward was born in 195l. Edith and Jim traveled to extensively, including Thailand, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Scotland and Japan. In 1995 they moved to Edmond, Oklahoma.

Edith was a loving mother, caring wife, selfless and giving woman who devoted her life to serving her country and her family. She was creative and enjoyed making clothing, dolls and crafts.

Edith was preceeded in death by her daughter Karen Vollbrecht and is survived by her daughter, Mary Ann and husband Bill Woodward, their three children, Jenni Runyan, Lindsay Dunn and Taylor Woodward along with their spouses Jeff, Brad and Amy respectively, as well as Tom Vollbrecht and Karen and Tom's sons, James Vollbrecht and John,his wife Melissa. Edith also has eight great-grandchildren, Remington, London, Scarlett, Chandler, Lily, Teddy, Kit and Olive.