Lois Burrell Heathman Roberts

14, 2012. She was the youngest child of Burrel W. Heathman and Ruby (Minyard)

Heathman, growing up with wonderful memories of her sisters, Norine Heathman Dixon,

Jessie Lee Heathman, and Lou Ellen Heathman Jones, and her friends in the small town

of Roff. She married James William Roberts of Holdenville, OK, on December 27, 1946,

and had two children: Jerri Ann, who is married to Terry Dillon, and Ellen Lee, who is

married to Jody DeFehr. Lois was outgoing, smart, and an avid reader, so was placed two

grades ahead of her peers in elementary school, making her sixteen when she graduated

from Roff High School. She graduated from East Central College in 1938 with a BA in

English and Spanish. As a new, 2O-year-old teacher, she began her career teaching high

school seniors in Osage, Oklahoma, some of whom were as old as she was! Over the next

several years, she taught high school English, Spanish, and Speech in Osage, Konowa,

Wewoka, and at Harding High School in Oklahoma City. In one school, Lois, who never

desired to learn sewing and cooked as little as possible, was hired to teach one section of

home economics, with her principal telling her to "stay one chapter ahead of her

students." Lois' and Jim's love story began on Memorial Day in 1946 when she moved to

Norman to begin work on a Masters degree. After their first date later that week, she

declared she would marry him. He proposed in August, and they were married in

December. After 63 wonderful years of marriage, she still claimed "there may be others

whose marriage is as happy as ours, but no one's could possibly be happier." After her

first daughter was born, Lois retired from public school, but never gave up teaching. She

and Jim were members of Olivet Baptist Church, where she taught Sunday School for

sixty years, was active in WMU, serving in every office, and singing in various choirs

throughout her life. She loved to perform, and did so in drama productions at the church,

as well as choir performances. Lois and Jim joined Spring Creek Baptist Church in2007.

Every year her daughters were in school, Lois was a homeroom mother and PTA officer.

She began teaching English as a Second Language in 1973, and over the course of

twenty-plus years taught students from Viet Nam, Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and South

America. Lois was a member of and reviewed books for many book clubs in Oklahoma

City and recorded books for the Library for the Blind for many years, specializing in

Text books. She was an active member of PEO until a few years before her death. Lois

began writing at an early age, writing plays for her grade school classes to perform, and

continued writing throughout her life, with articles published in several magazines and a

book published in 1983. She and Jim traveled extensively, and she wrote detailed, funny

journals of each trip. Lois was preceded in death by her husband, her parents, and her

sisters. She is survived by her two daughters and their husbands; four grandchildren:

Teranne Keogh of Melbourne, Australia; Greg DePlois and Tim DeFehr of Oklahoma

City; and Leslie Brown of Denver; three step-grandchildren: Tracy Bowron of Prague,

Czech Republic; Brian Dillon of Dallas; and Patrick Dillon of St. Louis; eight great-

grandchildren, many nieces and nephews who were very special to her; her friend of 83

years, Dorothy Holland Ailey, of Nashville, TN; and her caregivers who became part of

the family. Burial will be held Saturday, February 18, at 2:00 at Memorial Park

Cemetery, Edmond. A memorial service will be at 4:00 at Spring Creek Baptist Church,

11701 N. MacArthur Blvd. Arrangements under the direction of Hahn-Cook/Street & Draper

Funeral Directors, Oklahoma City, OK.