Neal Tennyson Putman

Neal was born April 12, 1925 in Ft. Worth, Texas to Lon Neal and Myrtle (Tennyson) Putman. He grew up in Altus, Oklahoma and graduated from Altus High School in 1943. He dreamed of becoming a pilot and did so by joining the Army Air Force. Following his time of service, he attended University of Oklahoma and obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1950. He and his wife Jeanne (Coursey) moved to Colorado Springs and then to Albuquerque where he obtained his Masters of Fine Arts from the University of New Mexico in 1959 and had a son, Dirk. He then joined the faculty of Southwestern University in Georgetown, TX where daughter, Lisa, joined the family. Neal and family moved to Edmond, OK where he taught at Central State College. He met his second wife (Carol Timmons) there and a son, Jeremy, was born. Neal was then employed by the Employment Security Commission as a counselor and then the Oklahoma State Department of Health in the Local Health Services to develop County Health Departments. He later transferred to the Long Term Care Division of the OSDH. He surveyed nursing homes, became the In-Service Coordinator and the Director of Surveys. He met and married his third wife (Karel Rainwater List) before retiring in 1996. After retirement, he returned to his works in art and completed a series of paintings entitled “Evocations” which was exhibited by the Individual Artists of Oklahoma in 2001. Another showing was held in January 2012 and his art has been exhibited internationally over the years. Neal was a member of the Unitarian Church. He is preceded in death by his parents, his son Dirk, and his first wife, Jeanne. He is survived by his wife Karel, his children Lisa Whipple and Jeremy Putman as well as grandchildren Ryan Whipple, Jessica Whipple and Lexi Putman.

Neal has a strong faith in a power greater than himself, whom he chose to call God and was a longtime friend of Bill W. Neal’s rule for life was “Much of life is learning to wait for the right moment – a hard kind of patience to learn.” He often said, “Don’t try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.”

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Soaring Eagle Charity in Billings, Montana. Gifts can be made at www.soaringeagle.org or P.O. Box 879, Billings, Montana 59103.

A memorial service will be held at 1pm, Saturday, August 24, 2013 at Chapel Hill Funeral Home. Please visit www.chapelhill-okc.com to sign the online guestbook.