BETHANY
Warren, Joyce Akers, 90, bookkeeper, died July 4. Private services (Mercer-Adams, Bethany).
Published in The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Friday, July 6, 2018, Page 6A.
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Joyce was the youngest, and last remaining child of the Ross Akers family. She and her six brothers and three sisters were born in Warren? County, Chattanooga, Tennessee just before the Great Depression. Shortly after her birth, her father Ross Akers left her mom (Effie) and the 10 kids to fend for themselves. A couple of the boys worked to help feed the family during those lean depression era years. In later years, mom recounted, that for a period, they survived on onion soup.
It wasn’t easy growing-up in the Akers household. As a little girl, Joyce broke her back while riding her bicycle. She was literally laid-up in the hospital for about a year while her back healed. She put up with a curved spine the rest of her life. Fortunately for mom, the Shriners Organization was there and they paid her hospital bills.
Joyce met her future husband Carl Atto Warren after he posted a personal ad in the Chattanooga newspaper looking for a pen-pal. At Mama Akers’ suggestion, mom responded to his pen-pal request. Eventually dad announced his plans to travel from Boulder, Colorado to Chattanooga, Tennessee during a school break. Carl and Joyce met during that trip.
Mom married Carl in 1949 and returned to Boulder, Colorado with him so he could complete his electrical engineering degree at the University of Colorado Boulder. My brother, Ronald Wayne Warren was conceived and born while they lived in Colorado. Following graduation, the new family struck out for a new job and a new future in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The Warren’s chose Oklahoma because it was centrally located between Colorado and Tennessee and seemed like the perfect choice. Scott was born four years later.
As a young lady in Chattanooga, mom earned a certificate in business. Although reserved, she loved to laugh and sing. She was a devoted wife and mother raising her two boys in Bethany, Oklahoma. Once they were self-sufficient, she went to work for Goodwill Industries in downtown Oklahoma City as a bookkeeper. Every day for the next 30 years she got up at 5:00 a.m. and headed downtown to Goodwill. She was active in her church as a Sunday school teacher, choir member and attendance clerk, and up until just a few years ago, visited home-bound church members and delivered church service recordings.
For years she went into work about the time the sun came up. Even after retiring, she rose with the sun and went to Shepherd Mall or Penn Square Mall to walk, drink coffee and people watch. Then she’d go home and sit in her chair and work on crossword puzzles.
Mom was a devout Christian who loved her church (Portland Avenue Baptist Church), her church friends and singing hymns. She was the least prejudiced person I know and taught me one of the most significant lessons of my life probably without even realizing it. When I was in the fourth grade we moved from our house on 20th street in Oklahoma City to 40th Street in Bethany. I heard that our old house was purchased by a Catholic family. I said to mom, “but they’re Catholic” and she said “Honey, it doesn’t matter.” As innocent as that little exchange sounds, it has had a profound impact on my life. That seemingly innocent statement along with the example my mother set of always loving and accepting all people and her time working at Goodwill, profoundly shaped my life.
Mom lost her eldest son Ron in 2009, after a lengthy illness. She is survived by her son, Scott and his wife Janice, and her grandson Nicholas and her other daughter-in-law Marcia (Davis) Warren and her children Heidi and Reid. Although her children and those who knew her will carry on and try to live life as she taught us, we will miss her kind and gentle spirit.
Oklahoma was mom’s home for over 64 years. She loved it at Southern Plaza and she loved her caregivers (Kathy Bowens, Mendy Douglas and Shaela Glaze) and friends. She would want you to remember her spirit, her love of her church, and how she treated others.
Private services will be held at Mercer-Adams in Bethany, OK with interment at Chapel Hill Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Goodwill Industries. To share a memory or a condolence, please visit www.mercer-adams.com
Published in The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Friday, July 6, 2018, Page 7A.
Warren, Joyce Akers, 90, bookkeeper, died July 4. Private services (Mercer-Adams, Bethany).
Published in The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Friday, July 6, 2018, Page 6A.
+
+
+
Joyce was the youngest, and last remaining child of the Ross Akers family. She and her six brothers and three sisters were born in Warren? County, Chattanooga, Tennessee just before the Great Depression. Shortly after her birth, her father Ross Akers left her mom (Effie) and the 10 kids to fend for themselves. A couple of the boys worked to help feed the family during those lean depression era years. In later years, mom recounted, that for a period, they survived on onion soup.
It wasn’t easy growing-up in the Akers household. As a little girl, Joyce broke her back while riding her bicycle. She was literally laid-up in the hospital for about a year while her back healed. She put up with a curved spine the rest of her life. Fortunately for mom, the Shriners Organization was there and they paid her hospital bills.
Joyce met her future husband Carl Atto Warren after he posted a personal ad in the Chattanooga newspaper looking for a pen-pal. At Mama Akers’ suggestion, mom responded to his pen-pal request. Eventually dad announced his plans to travel from Boulder, Colorado to Chattanooga, Tennessee during a school break. Carl and Joyce met during that trip.
Mom married Carl in 1949 and returned to Boulder, Colorado with him so he could complete his electrical engineering degree at the University of Colorado Boulder. My brother, Ronald Wayne Warren was conceived and born while they lived in Colorado. Following graduation, the new family struck out for a new job and a new future in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The Warren’s chose Oklahoma because it was centrally located between Colorado and Tennessee and seemed like the perfect choice. Scott was born four years later.
As a young lady in Chattanooga, mom earned a certificate in business. Although reserved, she loved to laugh and sing. She was a devoted wife and mother raising her two boys in Bethany, Oklahoma. Once they were self-sufficient, she went to work for Goodwill Industries in downtown Oklahoma City as a bookkeeper. Every day for the next 30 years she got up at 5:00 a.m. and headed downtown to Goodwill. She was active in her church as a Sunday school teacher, choir member and attendance clerk, and up until just a few years ago, visited home-bound church members and delivered church service recordings.
For years she went into work about the time the sun came up. Even after retiring, she rose with the sun and went to Shepherd Mall or Penn Square Mall to walk, drink coffee and people watch. Then she’d go home and sit in her chair and work on crossword puzzles.
Mom was a devout Christian who loved her church (Portland Avenue Baptist Church), her church friends and singing hymns. She was the least prejudiced person I know and taught me one of the most significant lessons of my life probably without even realizing it. When I was in the fourth grade we moved from our house on 20th street in Oklahoma City to 40th Street in Bethany. I heard that our old house was purchased by a Catholic family. I said to mom, “but they’re Catholic” and she said “Honey, it doesn’t matter.” As innocent as that little exchange sounds, it has had a profound impact on my life. That seemingly innocent statement along with the example my mother set of always loving and accepting all people and her time working at Goodwill, profoundly shaped my life.
Mom lost her eldest son Ron in 2009, after a lengthy illness. She is survived by her son, Scott and his wife Janice, and her grandson Nicholas and her other daughter-in-law Marcia (Davis) Warren and her children Heidi and Reid. Although her children and those who knew her will carry on and try to live life as she taught us, we will miss her kind and gentle spirit.
Oklahoma was mom’s home for over 64 years. She loved it at Southern Plaza and she loved her caregivers (Kathy Bowens, Mendy Douglas and Shaela Glaze) and friends. She would want you to remember her spirit, her love of her church, and how she treated others.
Private services will be held at Mercer-Adams in Bethany, OK with interment at Chapel Hill Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Goodwill Industries. To share a memory or a condolence, please visit www.mercer-adams.com
Published in The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Friday, July 6, 2018, Page 7A.
BETHANY
Warren, Joyce Akers, 90, bookkeeper, died July 4. Private services (Mercer-Adams, Bethany).
Published in The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Friday, July 6, 2018, Page 6A.
+
+
+
Joyce was the youngest, and last remaining child of the Ross Akers family. She and her six brothers and three sisters were born in Warren? County, Chattanooga, Tennessee just before the Great Depression. Shortly after her birth, her father Ross Akers left her mom (Effie) and the 10 kids to fend for themselves. A couple of the boys worked to help feed the family during those lean depression era years. In later years, mom recounted, that for a period, they survived on onion soup.
It wasn’t easy growing-up in the Akers household. As a little girl, Joyce broke her back while riding her bicycle. She was literally laid-up in the hospital for about a year while her back healed. She put up with a curved spine the rest of her life. Fortunately for mom, the Shriners Organization was there and they paid her hospital bills.
Joyce met her future husband Carl Atto Warren after he posted a personal ad in the Chattanooga newspaper looking for a pen-pal. At Mama Akers’ suggestion, mom responded to his pen-pal request. Eventually dad announced his plans to travel from Boulder, Colorado to Chattanooga, Tennessee during a school break. Carl and Joyce met during that trip.
Mom married Carl in 1949 and returned to Boulder, Colorado with him so he could complete his electrical engineering degree at the University of Colorado Boulder. My brother, Ronald Wayne Warren was conceived and born while they lived in Colorado. Following graduation, the new family struck out for a new job and a new future in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The Warren’s chose Oklahoma because it was centrally located between Colorado and Tennessee and seemed like the perfect choice. Scott was born four years later.
As a young lady in Chattanooga, mom earned a certificate in business. Although reserved, she loved to laugh and sing. She was a devoted wife and mother raising her two boys in Bethany, Oklahoma. Once they were self-sufficient, she went to work for Goodwill Industries in downtown Oklahoma City as a bookkeeper. Every day for the next 30 years she got up at 5:00 a.m. and headed downtown to Goodwill. She was active in her church as a Sunday school teacher, choir member and attendance clerk, and up until just a few years ago, visited home-bound church members and delivered church service recordings.
For years she went into work about the time the sun came up. Even after retiring, she rose with the sun and went to Shepherd Mall or Penn Square Mall to walk, drink coffee and people watch. Then she’d go home and sit in her chair and work on crossword puzzles.
Mom was a devout Christian who loved her church (Portland Avenue Baptist Church), her church friends and singing hymns. She was the least prejudiced person I know and taught me one of the most significant lessons of my life probably without even realizing it. When I was in the fourth grade we moved from our house on 20th street in Oklahoma City to 40th Street in Bethany. I heard that our old house was purchased by a Catholic family. I said to mom, “but they’re Catholic” and she said “Honey, it doesn’t matter.” As innocent as that little exchange sounds, it has had a profound impact on my life. That seemingly innocent statement along with the example my mother set of always loving and accepting all people and her time working at Goodwill, profoundly shaped my life.
Mom lost her eldest son Ron in 2009, after a lengthy illness. She is survived by her son, Scott and his wife Janice, and her grandson Nicholas and her other daughter-in-law Marcia (Davis) Warren and her children Heidi and Reid. Although her children and those who knew her will carry on and try to live life as she taught us, we will miss her kind and gentle spirit.
Oklahoma was mom’s home for over 64 years. She loved it at Southern Plaza and she loved her caregivers (Kathy Bowens, Mendy Douglas and Shaela Glaze) and friends. She would want you to remember her spirit, her love of her church, and how she treated others.
Private services will be held at Mercer-Adams in Bethany, OK with interment at Chapel Hill Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Goodwill Industries. To share a memory or a condolence, please visit www.mercer-adams.com
Published in The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Friday, July 6, 2018, Page 7A.
Warren, Joyce Akers, 90, bookkeeper, died July 4. Private services (Mercer-Adams, Bethany).
Published in The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Friday, July 6, 2018, Page 6A.
+
+
+
Joyce was the youngest, and last remaining child of the Ross Akers family. She and her six brothers and three sisters were born in Warren? County, Chattanooga, Tennessee just before the Great Depression. Shortly after her birth, her father Ross Akers left her mom (Effie) and the 10 kids to fend for themselves. A couple of the boys worked to help feed the family during those lean depression era years. In later years, mom recounted, that for a period, they survived on onion soup.
It wasn’t easy growing-up in the Akers household. As a little girl, Joyce broke her back while riding her bicycle. She was literally laid-up in the hospital for about a year while her back healed. She put up with a curved spine the rest of her life. Fortunately for mom, the Shriners Organization was there and they paid her hospital bills.
Joyce met her future husband Carl Atto Warren after he posted a personal ad in the Chattanooga newspaper looking for a pen-pal. At Mama Akers’ suggestion, mom responded to his pen-pal request. Eventually dad announced his plans to travel from Boulder, Colorado to Chattanooga, Tennessee during a school break. Carl and Joyce met during that trip.
Mom married Carl in 1949 and returned to Boulder, Colorado with him so he could complete his electrical engineering degree at the University of Colorado Boulder. My brother, Ronald Wayne Warren was conceived and born while they lived in Colorado. Following graduation, the new family struck out for a new job and a new future in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The Warren’s chose Oklahoma because it was centrally located between Colorado and Tennessee and seemed like the perfect choice. Scott was born four years later.
As a young lady in Chattanooga, mom earned a certificate in business. Although reserved, she loved to laugh and sing. She was a devoted wife and mother raising her two boys in Bethany, Oklahoma. Once they were self-sufficient, she went to work for Goodwill Industries in downtown Oklahoma City as a bookkeeper. Every day for the next 30 years she got up at 5:00 a.m. and headed downtown to Goodwill. She was active in her church as a Sunday school teacher, choir member and attendance clerk, and up until just a few years ago, visited home-bound church members and delivered church service recordings.
For years she went into work about the time the sun came up. Even after retiring, she rose with the sun and went to Shepherd Mall or Penn Square Mall to walk, drink coffee and people watch. Then she’d go home and sit in her chair and work on crossword puzzles.
Mom was a devout Christian who loved her church (Portland Avenue Baptist Church), her church friends and singing hymns. She was the least prejudiced person I know and taught me one of the most significant lessons of my life probably without even realizing it. When I was in the fourth grade we moved from our house on 20th street in Oklahoma City to 40th Street in Bethany. I heard that our old house was purchased by a Catholic family. I said to mom, “but they’re Catholic” and she said “Honey, it doesn’t matter.” As innocent as that little exchange sounds, it has had a profound impact on my life. That seemingly innocent statement along with the example my mother set of always loving and accepting all people and her time working at Goodwill, profoundly shaped my life.
Mom lost her eldest son Ron in 2009, after a lengthy illness. She is survived by her son, Scott and his wife Janice, and her grandson Nicholas and her other daughter-in-law Marcia (Davis) Warren and her children Heidi and Reid. Although her children and those who knew her will carry on and try to live life as she taught us, we will miss her kind and gentle spirit.
Oklahoma was mom’s home for over 64 years. She loved it at Southern Plaza and she loved her caregivers (Kathy Bowens, Mendy Douglas and Shaela Glaze) and friends. She would want you to remember her spirit, her love of her church, and how she treated others.
Private services will be held at Mercer-Adams in Bethany, OK with interment at Chapel Hill Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Goodwill Industries. To share a memory or a condolence, please visit www.mercer-adams.com
Published in The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Friday, July 6, 2018, Page 7A.
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