Barbara Joan (pronounced “Jo-Ann”) Maynard Parker was born March 23, 1929, in Purcell, OK, and passed away in Midwest City, OK, on April 15, 2017. She was the first of six children born to Johney Burse and Barbara Anna Maynard. Joan attended Washington Public Schools where she was the Basketball Queen and valedictorian of her graduating class in 1947. The previous autumn Joan fell down on the skating rink at Lindsay, and a young sailor just home from the war in the Pacific helped her get back on her feet. That sailor was Ben Parker from Purcell. The couple dated throughout her senior year, and they married on August 17, 1947. They were married almost 42 years and raised four daughters: Terri, Denise, Shelley, and Kristi. Joan accepted Jesus as her personal Savior as a child at Woody Chapel and grew up in First Baptist Church, Washington. She once again joined that church, along with Ben, when they moved back to the area after his retirement from the Navy in 1958. Joan was an active church member, serving as a Sunday School and Training Union teacher, a Women’s Missionary Union leader, and the church organist for over 50 years. She was also a longtime member of the Singing ChurchWomen of Oklahoma. Joan was creative in many ways, and she loved to write. She wrote in a wide variety of styles and purposes including poetry, children’s stories, skits, and sports and news reporting. She wrote for the Purcell Register for over 50 years, reporting the Washington school and community news and authoring her “Potpourri” column which continues to be a part of that paper today. She and Ben were almost permanent fixtures at Washington school and sporting events, where he kept stats and announced while she carefully took notes for the paper. Joan also worked as a telephone switchboard operator, an office manager, and in clerical positions, eventually retiring after almost 20 years as the secretary for the Vo-Tech School at the Lexington Assessment and Reception Center. The last year and a half she lived at Wellington Parke Assisted Living Center in Del City, a wonderful Christian facility, where she loved to play dominoes and to play the piano for her fellow residents.

Joan was preceded in death by her parents, John and Barbara; her husband, Ben; and her youngest daughter, Kristi Parker Hazelrigg.

She is survived by three brothers and their wives: Ken and Dee Maynard of Washington, Ronnie and Nancy Maynard of Purcell, and Rick and Jane Maynard of Goldsby; two sisters and their husbands: Peggy and Cleveland Mattingly of Washington, and Bonnie and Ron Ragland of Bixby; three daughters and four sons-in-law: Terri and Ken Street of Goldsby, Denise and Steve Ditto of Choctaw, Shelley and Roger Chandler of Broken Arrow, and Brent Hazelrigg of Midwest City; eight grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

Services will be held at First Baptist Church, Washington, at 2:00 p.m. Wednesday, April 19, 2017, with interment to follow at Hillside Cemetery in Purcell. Arrangements by Wilson-Little Funeral Home in Purcell.