July 18, 1923 - May 12, 2011 INDEPENDENCE, MO Lonella Albright passed away Thursday, May 12, 2011, three days after a joyous Mother's Day celebration. A visitation will be held at Eisenhour Northeast Funeral Home on Monday, May 16, 5-8 pm. Services will be held at Dickson Baptist Church in Midwest City, Oklahoma, on May 17 at 10:00 am. Rev. Darold Morgan, a longtime seminary friend, will officiate. Burial will follow at Arlington Cemetery beside her husband, Rev. Harvey Albright. Lonella was born in Bangs, TX in 1923. She graduated from Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas, with a degree in Business Administration and completed one year of post-graduate work at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth.While in college, she played saxophone in the Cowgirl Band and met her future husband, Harvey. As newlyweds, they pastored in Oklahoma at the Little City Baptist Church and then moved to Olivet Baptist Church in Tulsa, where their two daughters, Mary and Angela, were born. In 1952 they were called to Dickson Baptist Church and ministered there for 33 years. While also fully functioning as a pastor's wife, Lonella managed to achieve top sales during a tenure at Rothschild's clothing store in Oklahoma City. In 1979, Lonella and "Brother Harvey" traveled to Sao Paulo Brazil to hold a revival at the church of a seminary friend and missionary, Alvin Hatton. After retiring, the couple served at churches in Goldsby, Dibble, Turpin, Beaver, Balko, Bellevue, and Forgan, OK. Their next, and favorite, adventure together was serving as volunteer Missionary Associates to the Baptist Village in Israel. Two years after Harvey's death, Lonella moved to Independence, MO to live near her daughter, Mary; grandchildren, and then great-grandchildren. She was much loved in these roles. Survivors are Mary and her husband Michael Varner; son and daughter-in-law, Zachary & Candace Varner, Kathryn, and Rebecca; and great-grandchildren, Claire, and identical twins, Zoe and Julia. She is also survived by Angela Albright and her husband Kenneth Reiff, and their children, Matthew and Elizabeth. Memorial contributions can be made to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association or the International Rescue Committee (www.fromharmtohome.org) www.fromharmtohome.org
Published in The Oklahoman on May 15, 2011