Funeral service for Gerald Curtis Means, 83, will be at 2 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 22, 2005, at the United Methodist Church with the Rev. James Edmison officiating. Burial will follow at Cherokee Municipal Cemetery with arrangements by Lanman Funeral Home, Inc., of Cherokee, OK. Visitation will be on Wednesday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and on Friday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. with the family present from 6 to 8 p.m. Condolences may be made at www.lanmanfuneralhomes.com by clicking on the Ultimate Tributes icon.
Gerald Curtis Means was born on December 13, 1921, three miles north and two east of Carmen, OK. to James Robert Means and Edna Lois Mann Means. He died on Oct. 18, 2005, at Golden Oaks Nursing Home, Enid, OK., after a brief battle with cancer. Gerald attended Prairie Valley Grade School and graduated from Lambert High School in 1939. He attended Oklahoma State University, studying agriculture.
He married Erma Lee Bell on March 16, 1947. They had two boys and two girls, and they built a new home eight miles south of Cherokee. She died October 23, 1963. he was a devoted father raising his four children. He enjoyed attending his grandchildren's activities and getting hugs from his great-grandchildren. He was a life-time wheat farmer and rancher in Alfalfa County. On January 8, 1995, he married Reda Cushenbery Fritz and moved to Cherokee. She survives.
Other survivors are his son, Thomas Means and wife, Kathleen Peters Means of Edmond, OK., daughter, Karen Means Menefee and husband, Ronald Menefee of Hutchinson, KS., son, Gary Means and wife, Sheila Fields Means of Cherokee, OK., daughter Sharon Means Stout and husband, Tim Stout, of Rogersville, MO.; grandchildren, Janelle Means Hickey and husband LCDR Brad Hickey of Brunswick, Maine, Katrina Means Shaklee and husband, J.D. Shaklee of Edmond, OK., Thomas Curtis Means and wife, Jennifer Adams Means of Edmond, OK., Mark Menefee of Lawrence, KS., Steven Menefee of Wichita, KS., John Means of Oklahoma City, OK., Erin Means of Oklahoma City, OK., Miranda Stout Donley and husband, Randy Donley of Thornfield, MO., Lisa Stout of Springfield, MO., Karri Stout of Rogersville, MO.; eight great-grandchildren, Sean and Ryan Hickey, Callahan Shaklee, Taylor and Gracey Means, Andrew Means, Peyton and Hallee Donley; one brother, James R. Means, Jr., and wife, Phyllis Green Means of Cherokee, OK., and several nieces and nephews.
