Savilla Derden Oxford

GA to the late Bascom R. and Belle (Sutton) Derden. Savilla served in

several branches of the military and was a WWII veteran. She was one of the first women to

operate and repair radios in the Army, calibrate ships’ navigation equipment in the Coast Guard,

and wire planes in the Air Force. While stationed in TX, she met and married Cecil Laverne (Ox) Oxford, also a WWII vet,

and left the service to start a family, which soon relocated to her husband’s home, Manatee County.

Although she would live on Air Force bases in Tampa, FL; Little Rock, Arkansas;

the Philippine Islands; and Detroit, Michigan, she made her permanent home in Parrish, FL, near Ox’s family.

When her children were in grade school, she worked as a bookkeeper for Cecil King’s fruit company in Parrish, (now P.J.’s).

Later, she was the first woman electronics technician hired by Sears, in the southeastern U.S.

Sears eventually made Savilla the manager of electronics repair in their Sarasota warehouse.

They would often send her to school in Atlanta to learn new technology, which she taught to the other repairmen here.

When Sears needed someone to do the same for lawn mowers, they found that Savilla could master that, too.

When she retired from Sears, due to health reasons, she was a manager of the electronics, lawnmower, washing machine, and refrigerator repair

departments. After the death of her beloved husband, Ox, in 1995, she

continued to run the family farm with a small herd of cows, on Oxford Rd. She lived for God,

her family, and her friends. She was never happier than when she was cooking a delicious specialty for her loved ones. As a child of the Depression,

sharing food was giving love. She would always take care of her own needs last.

She was predeceased by her sister, Annabelle Selph, and her brothers: John and Lawrence Derden.

She is survived by her sisters: Marie Holt, Juanita Sanford, and Geneva Colvard, her brother: Willis Derden, her children:

Cecilla Oxford Beckett and husband, Roger, of Duette, FL, and Henry Garth Oxford and wife, Cylinda, of Jonesboro, AR,

three grandchildren, seven great grandchildren, an extensive family, and many friends, who “adopted” her into their families.

A cause near and dear to Savilla’s heart has been the Women's Memorial Foundation, Dept. 560, Washington, DC 20042-0560.

Her desire was that donations in her memory go to that organization, which honors women in the military, in lieu of flowers.