IRWIN, LaVona R. (Sears)

Funeral services for LaVona Ruth Irwin will be 10 a.m. Monday, June 28, 2010, at the Carmen Christian Church with Rev. Kirk Board officiating. Interment will be in the Aline Star Cemetery under the direction of Wentworth Mortuary, LLC. LaVona Ruth Irwin was born July 17, 1925, to Samuel F. And Viva Hiatt Sears on her grandparents farm east of Cleo Springs, Oklahoma, and passed away on June 22, 2010, at the age of 84 years, 11 months, and 5 days. She began school in Cleo Springs and later attended 4th grade in Alva before returning to Cleo Springs. Around the age of 12, the family moved to Imperial, Nebraska. They moved back to Cleo Springs and she completed her high school years there, graduating in 1943. In February of that same year she met Clyde M. Irwin and they were married November 7, 1943. LaVona was working at a grocery store in Fairview at the time. They soon made their home on a farm two and one half miles south of Carmen, where they lived for the next twenty years, raising their daughters there. LaVona was a farm wife and mother who enjoyed vegetable and flower gardening and was a member of the Home Extension Club. She and Clyde were members of the First Christian Church in Aline, Oklahoma, where they helped establish a young married couples Sunday School class that was very active. She was also a member of the Christian WomenÆs Fellowship. The family later moved their membership to the Carmen Christian Church in Carmen, Oklahoma. During the late 1950s, LaVona began working at ReedÆs Drug Store in Carmen. In the summer of 1964, LaVona, Clyde, and their daughter, Joyce, moved to Anadarko, Oklahoma, where Clyde became right-of-way director for Western FarmerÆs Electric. LaVona began her higher education soon after they moved, first attending Oklahoma College of Liberal Arts in Chickasha, Oklahoma, then later to Southwestern State College in Weatherford, Oklahoma, where she received a Bachelor of Science degree in Education in May of 1971. Instead of teaching, LaVona chose to use her degree to set up her own business, Golden Treasurers, an art supply, craft, and antique store. After operating the store, teaching painting and crafts, she retired at the age of 72, selling the store contents at auction. She and Clyde then moved to Enid, Oklahoma, in 1997. Her hobbies were gardening, taking pictures and traveling. Together she and Clyde traveled the U.S. from coast to coast and part of Canada, in addition to earlier travel during the 70Æs to Europe. In June of 2009, LaVona was diagnosed with cancer in her right leg and had surgery in addition to many weeks of radiation therapy. For the past year she has resided at The Arbors, an assisted living facility in Enid. Besides her parents and her husband, Clyde, she was preceded in death by a sister, Laura Belle May, and a son-in-law, Bruce Harvey. LaVona is survived by two daughters, Jana Harvey of Enid and Joyce Delano and husband, Dennis, of Arcadia, Oklahoma; a brother, Gerald Lee Sears and wife, Elly, of Cleo Springs; five grandchildren, Kristel Esparza and husband, Herman, of San Antonio, Texas, Heather Jennings and husband, Matt, of Highland Park, Illinois, Brandon Harvey and wife, Tiffany, of Enid, Nichole Delano of Arcadia, and Craig Delano and wife, Christy, of Oklahoma City. Also surviving are seven great grandchildren, Monica, Emily, Lauren, and Nathaniel Esparza, all of San Antonio, Clyde and Audrey Jennings, both of Highland Park, and Jersey Garrett of Enid; numerous nieces and nephews, other relatives, and friends. In lieu of flowers the family has requested memorial contributions be made through the funeral home to the Carmen Christian Church, the First Christian Church of Aline, or the United Methodist Church Building Fund of Carmen.