Arthur Harvey Strong

Earlsboro resident, Arthur Harvey Strong, age 80, passed away peacefully at his home on Sunday, April 26, 2015. He was born on August 20, 1934 in Springfield, Massachusetts to Arthur Eugene and Grace Strong. After graduating from high school, he joined the Air Force and was honorably discharged in 1958. Mr. Strong married the love of his life, Mary Belcher, on October 29, 1955. After living in Massachusetts and Oklahoma, they settled in California where he worked as an auto mechanic and raised their 2 sons. They moved back to Oklahoma in 1985. He was a member of the Shawnee Tractor Club, the Strong Family Association of America, as well as Mount Pleasant Baptist Church. Arthur will be remembered as a happy person who liked to joke around and make people smile. He loved people, liked to have fun, and to him, there was no such thing as a stranger.

Arthur was preceded in death by his parents and sister, Dorothy Bailey.

He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Mary Strong; sons, Arthur Harvey Strong, Jr. and Gene Dodak, Robert Eugene Strong and JoAnne Roberts; siblings, Erma Ekles, Esther Black, Barbara Chisolm, Gordon Strong, and Norma Kristen Hopper; sister-in-law, Ruth Johnson and husband James; brother-in-law, Harvey Belcher and wife Bette; special cousin, Charlie Strong; a host of nieces, nephews, other family and friends.

The family would like to thank the staff of Heartland Hospice for their compassion and kindness.

A celebration of life will be held at 2pm on Friday, May, 1, 2015 at Mount Pleasant Baptist Church with interment to follow at Johnson Cemetery.