Graveside services for Francille Edwards, 86, Atoka, Oklahoma (formerly of Grand Saline) were held at 2 p.m., January 19 at Crystal Cemetery under the direction of Brumley-Mills Funeral Home of McAlester, Okla.
Mrs. Edwards passed away January 17, 2010.
She was born September 5, 1923 in McAlester to E.L. and Mabel (Baker) Koontz. She had been in the restaurant business for a few years but most of her career she worked as a nurse’s aide, starting at St. Mary’s Hospital and then at Blevins Nursing Home for a short time. She had also worked as a provider for the Department of Human Services, caring for the elderly.
She was preceded in death by her parents; husbands, John L. Newby, Earnest Sardella and Otis Edwards; a son, Dale Newby; grandchildren Michael Crawley, June Koontz and Nancy Newby; brothers, Sammy, Wayne and Earl Koontz, and sisters, Juanita White and Wilma Koontz.
Survivors include her daughters and sons-in-law, Beverly and Jimmy Mount, Tyler, Sandy Goff, Naomi Gooding, both of Atoka, Rose and Red Crawley, Tahlequah, Patty and Roger Skaggs, Norman, Okla., Judy and Larry Chastain, Lehigh, Okla., Celia and Brent Durant, Crystal, Okla., and Barbara and Jeffery Scott, of Kiowa, Okla.; sons and daughters-in-law, Roland and Virginia Newby, McAlester, Okla., Ricky and Sue Newby, Amarillo, and Randy and Sharon McHenry, Panella Park, Fla.; daughter-in-law, Susie Newby, Canyon; 41 grandchildren, including her only grandson still in the area, Ralph Gooding, Wills Point; 55 great-grandchildren; nine great-great-grandchildren; a sister, Glenda Ray, of Thomas, and several nieces, nephews and cousins.
Honorary pallbearers were here grandchildren.
