Oleta Lee Woods

Oleta Lee (no middle name) was born to James Marion (Jim) Lee and Lillie Myrtle (Humbargar) Lee on May 18th 1917 in Colony, Oklahoma. She later kept the Lee for her middle name. She passed away June 6th, 2008 in the home of her daughter, Betty Tuley, at the age of 91 years and 18 days. Mrs. Woods had resided at her home in Shawnee, Oklahoma since 1959, but moved in with her daughter and son-in-law, Betty and Dennis Tuley, after having a massive stroke October 5, 2004, which left her paralyzed on her left side. She was the third child in a family of eight siblings, who were raised in a musical family. Her mother rode side saddle teaching pupils in the community music and her father played all the stringed instruments (the fiddle was his favorite) and her mother played the piano. All of the eight children learned how to play either the piano or a stringed instrument and there was music in their house every night after supper and they also played for the local community dances. Oleta played the mandolin or the “tater bug” as she called it. She loved to work in her flower beds and each year they expanded to where it looked almost like a jungle in her back yard. She never saw a flower or bush that she didn’t like. Oleta was a doting grandmother and great-grandmother; if the parents wouldn’t buy it for the kids, they would all go to “Granny or Great Granny” for it and they usually got it! She is preceded in death by her older brother, William Stewart “Mike” Lee, of Louisville, Kentucky and sister, Leacy Jane “Bobbie” Whittington, of Atoka, Oklahoma, and her younger brothers, Marion “Paul” Eugene Lee of Atoka, Oklahoma and James Oliver “Sug” Lee, of Shawnee, Oklahoma. She is also preceded in death by one granddaughter, Mary Ann Wyatt of Peculiar, Missouri. Surviving are two younger sisters, Alice Lorene “Rene” of Oakdale, California and Myrtle Evelyn “Pink” Hix of Bella Vista, Arkansas; and one brother, Perry Alvin Lee of Kansas City, Missouri. She is survived by her two daughters, Betty and Dennis Tuley of Wynnewood, Oklahoma and Mary and Richard Wyatt of Peculiar, Missouri. Surviving grandchildren are Richard Tuley and his wife Lorrie of Tecumseh, Oklahoma, Keith Tuley of Seattle, Washington, and John Lee Wyatt and Robert Dalton Wyatt of Peculiar, Missouri. She also leaves three surviving great-grandchildren, Garen Tuley of Shawnee, Oklahoma, Dayla Tidwell of Roff, Oklahoma and Miranda Jane Wyatt of Peculiar, Missouri, and a host of nieces and nephews. She chose to be an organ donor, saying “she was going to get a new body anyway and if it could help anyone else, she’d be pleased!” and also expressed a wish to be cremated. Graveside services for the family will be conducted later at the Tecumseh Cemetery, where she already has a plot and headstone beside Mr. Woods, who preceded her in death. Arrangements for cremation are under the direction of Wooster Funeral Home. You may send a condolence to the family at www.woosterfuneralhomes.com

Oleta Lee Woods

May 18, 1917 - June 6, 2008