Woodward County Obituary
Elmwood Cemetery

© Billings Funeral Home
WOODWARD, WOODWARD CO, OK
(permission granted)
Submitted by: Ann Weber

ETHEL MAE OUTHIER

December 11, 1919 - February 6, 2018

Ethel M. Outhier, 98 year old former Woodward resident, died February 6, 2018 in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Funeral services will be held at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, February 17, 2018 at the First United Methodist Church in Woodward with Reverend Shannon Davis officiating. Burial will follow in the Elmwood Cemetery.

Ethel Mae Castiller was born to Ollie and Charley Castiller on December 11, 1919 at Fargo, Oklahoma in a blizzard. She was laid in a shoe box on an oven door until the railroad track was cleared and her parents could take her to Woodward, where she was announced healthy. She went through school quickly and graduated from Sharon High School at age 15 and from Oklahoma A&M (now OSU) at age 19. Too young to go to work in her selected field, Ethel started her career by teaching Home Economics at Laverne, Oklahoma until she reached the age of 21.

Ethel became a Home Demonstration Agent in Cimarron County and worked until she married Clarence Coggins. From that union, Charles E. Coggins was born. Shortly after Charles’ birth, Captain Clarence Coggins was killed at the Battle of the Bulge.

A widow with child at age 24, Ethel worked as Assistant Home Demonstration Agent in Woodward until she married Robert E. “Bob” Outhier on November 16, 1946. From this union, Betty Outhier, now Lamer, was born.

Ethel was a devoted wife and mother. She worked in her church and her children’s activities. Additionally she earned extra money by designing patterns for McCalls and judging fair entries. Ethel and Bob owned businesses that she worked in, including a tag agency, and insurance agency, and the credit bureau. When her son began college, Ethel started teaching Home Economics at Woodward High School. She taught for ten years, until her daughter graduated with her law degree. Ethel retired to only return a couple of years later to fill in for a year for a teacher with health problems.

Ethel, in retirement, worked on recipes for low income individuals and teaching literacy to those with reading and or language deficits. She was a dedicated grandmother, being proud of Amanda Bissell, Emily O’Connell, Charlie Coggins and Kelly Coggins. While they were growing up, each grandchild got to spend a week of being spoiled each summer with Ethel and Bob.

As the grandchildren became adults, she became involved and loved each of her great-grandchildren, Katie Bissell, Jacob Bissell, Julia Bissell, Max Coggins and Rory O’Connell. Ethel lived by the credo of God first and family next.

Ethel was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Woodward and Queen Esther Order of the Eastern Star.

Ethel again became a widow with the death of Bob Outhier on November 6, 1995. In 2003, she moved to Muskogee, Oklahoma to be close to her daughter and lived in Muskogee until February 6, 2018.