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© Enid News and Eagle Enid, Oklahoma November 21, 2009 June 21, 1925 ~ November 19, 2009 A celebration of the life of Joan F. Drumright will be 1 pm Monday, November 23, 2009, in the Great Plain room in the Enid Public Library. A brief graveside service will be 10 am Monday, November 23, 2009, in Memorial Park Cemetery under the direction of Henninger-Hinson Funeral Home. Joan Frances [Burley] Drumright died November 19, 2009, at the age of 84. Joan was born June 21, 1925, in Trenton, Michigan, the daughter of William and Sophia Francesca Burley. As a young person, she was an accomplished pianist, cellist, and dancer and carried her love of music throughout her life. Joan moved with her mother and younger brothers to Ponca City, OK in 1945, and worked at Southwestern Bell Telephone Company as an operator. She married Russel Drumright in 1948, and they moved to Boulder, CO and Cedar Falls, Iowa, as Russel completed his masters degree. In 1949, their son, David was born. They returned to Ponca City where their daughter, Paula, was born in 1953. They moved to Norman where Russel completed his doctorate, and then the family lived in Manhattan, Kansas, Bowling Green, Ohio, and then moved to Enid in 1969 where Russel taught at Phillips University. Wherever Joan lived, she made good friends, and she was still writing and calling friends from her childhood in Michigan within weeks of her death. Caring relationships with others, whether humans or animals, were the most important things in Joan's life. Anyone who met Joan experienced her generosity and kindness. She was genuinely interested in others' lives and did everything she could to help any person or animal in need. In Enid, Joan was active in the League of Women Voters and the Democratic Party, and she was a founding member of the local chapter of the National Organization for Women. She worked in several organizations as a bookkeeper, including the Cherokee Strip Girl Scouts Council and Operation Uplift. For many years, she had a typing business in her home, and she befriended numerous university students from all over the world whom she helped with their papers. She was preceded in death by her husband, Russel, her sister, Gloria McDonald, her brother, William M. Burley, and one nephew, Donald Burley. Survivors include her children, David Grant Drumright, Spokane, Wash., and Paula Joan Seikel and husband, Tony of Inkom, Idaho; granddaughter, Leni Minazzi; and five great grandchildren; nieces, Jill McDonald, Jenny Burley-Krenzer, and Laura Lynn Dyer; nephews, William Burley, Robert Burley, and Richard Burley; and her companion, Sherlock, the cat. Also surviving are her dear friends, Carol Murphy and JoAnne Murphy, whom she considered part of her family. The family is grateful to Carla Bittle, Georgeann Campbell, and James Sweet who took such good care of Joan in the last part of her life and became her friends. Thanks also to the staff of Ross Health Care's hospice program for caring for Joan in her final days. The celebration of life will be an informal opportunity for Joan's friends and family to share memories of Joan in one of her favorite places. |
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