Mary Kathryn Harvey

Mary Kathryn Harvey, 75, lost her battle with cancer on December 28, 2011, in Oklahoma City. She passed on to glory with family by her side. Funeral services are scheduled for 1:00 pm, Saturday, December 31, at Heritage Fellowship Church in Edmond, OK. She was born November 1, 1936, in Wellston, OK, to Lawrence and Alma Hamilton. Her father worked in the Oklahoma oil fields and managed the Kerr McGee service station in Edmond until his retirement in 1975. Her mother worked with her father in the service station, and was a long-time election poll official. Mary Kathryn graduated from Edmond High School and attended Southwestern Bible College in Oklahoma City. In the mid 1960’s, she met Henry W Harvey in Oklahoma City where they were married. In 1968, they moved the family to California, living in several small communities on the High Desert. In 1974, they moved to Hamilton, Montana, before returning to California’s High Desert a year later. They ultimately relocated to Arizona, spending several years in the Tombstone and Sierra Vista areas, until her husband’s death in 2005. She returned to Oklahoma in 2006 to be a caregiver for her mother until she passed in 2008.

She taught for over 20 years in Southern California’s High Desert, mostly Kindergarten to 2nd grade classes, and actively served in the teacher’s union. While in Arizona, she was a member of the Arizona Republican Women’s Club and volunteered at the Arizona Pregnancy Resource Center in Sierra Vista, AZ. Recently, she worked with her sister Carolyn Helms in promoting various causes at the Oklahoma state capitol. In every community where she lived, Mary Kathryn was active in a local church, particularly in church choirs and playing the organ and piano. Her interests included family, music, travel and political and social causes. Mary Kathryn is survived by her sisters Carolyn Helms of Sapulpa, Sharon Thompson of Tulsa, and Beverly DuPriest of Garland, TX; daughters Karen Long of Oklahoma City and Tamara DeWees of Orange City, FL; sons Michael Harvey of San Diego, Paul Harvey of Milpitas, CA, and Terry Long of Wilhelmshaven, Germany; and nine nieces and nephews and their extended families.

She is preceded in death by her husband, Henry W. Harvey.

Donations in lieu of flowers may be sent to The American Cancer Society.