JoElla Thomas

JoElla Thomas passed away June 30, 2026. JoElla was born on Oct. 28, 1951, in Fort Sill, OK, to Delmar and Avis (Smith) Maranell. After graduating high school, JoElla attended Seminole Junior College.

Jimmie Dale Coker

Jimmie Dale Coker passed away on June 29, 2026. He was 90 years old. Jimmie was born on November 24, 1935, in Shawnee, OK to Rudy and Leva Coker. Jim graduated from Bethel High School. He attended OBU, earning his bachelor’s degree in education. He married Sonya on Aug.

Kenneth Jim Poole

Kenneth 'Jim' Poole passed away June 29, 2026, following a fight with pancreatic cancer. Jim was born Aug. 19, 1944, in Wewoka, OK to Laura Ellen Reed and Kenneth Jim Poole, Sr.On Dec. 28, 1967, he enlisted in the Marine Corp at the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma City.

Barbara Evans

Barbara Ann Evans passed away June 29, 2026. Barbara was born on Oct. 1, 1944, in Lancaster, CA., to Paul H. Hopkins and Geneva Bell (Plaster) Hopkins. She graduated from Bethel High School in 1962.On June 14, 1963, Barbara married Bill, at New Hope Baptist Church.

Darrell Lee Hatfield

Lt. Darrell Lee Hatfield, OCPD, Retired passed away on June 22, 2026. He was born to Jimmy Lee Hatfield and Betty Lou Hatfield in Oklahoma City on Dec. 1, 1949. He attended Capitol Hill High School, graduating in 1967. In Jan. 1967, he met his wife and lifelong companion, Brenda Lou Coots.

Martha Ann Lillard

Martha Lillard passed away of long-haul Covid-19 on June 26, 2026. She was born June 8, 1948, to Thomas M. and Gloria June (Green) Lillard of Shawnee. Martha contracted polio in 1953, and from that time slept in an iron lung.

James “Jim” Wesley Jr.

James “Jim” Edward Wesley Jr. age 84, of Shawnee, OK passed away on June 27, 2026.Services will be held at 10 am, July 2, 2026 at Cooper Funeral Home Chapel, Tecumseh OK, with Reverend Brent McCutcheon, Calvary Pentecostal Holiness Church, Shawnee, officiating.

Gary Brewster

Gary Brewster passed away on June 23, 2026, in Shawnee Oklahoma after heart problems. He was born on Feb. 8, 1950, in Elk City, OK, to Ed and Bea Brewster. Gary graduated from Canute High School. He earned his Bachelor of Science Degree from Central State College.

Robert Wesley Rushing

Robert Wesley Rushing, resident of Shawnee, passed away on June 26, 2026. Robert was born on Jan. 2, 1963, in Oklahoma City to Thomas Wesley Rushing and Thelma Joan Reynolds Rushing. Robert attended Faith 7 School and later went to Faith 7 Sheltered Workshop from 1969 to Aug. 2002.

Glen Edward Pence

Glen Pence was born in Sterling, OK, on Sept. 30, 1933, to Thelma and Medaris “Doc” Pence. He grew up in Fletcher, OK, where he graduated from high school in 1951. As a senior, he felt called to the ministry and began preaching in abandoned schoolhouses.