Alvin "Cotton" Aday

Celebration of Life Services will be at 10 a.m., Tues., July 3, at the First Baptist Church, Chelsea. Interment will follow in the Chelsea Cemetery under the direction of the Chelsea Funeral Home & Crematory. Visitation will be held at the funeral home Mon. 1-8 p.m., and family will greet friends 6: 00 - 8:00 P.M.

Cotton Aday was born June 18, 1920 near Farmersville, Texas; and died June 30, 2012 in Owasso, at the age of 92. Cotton was the fourth of fourteen children born to Henry Harvey and Tera Caldonia Aday. He had one sister and twelve brothers. In 1925, Henry and Tera and their five children traveled by way of a covered wagon from their Texas home and settled in the Winganon community near Chelsea in Rogers County, Oklahoma, where the remaining children were born and raised.

Cotton set out from home at an early age and found pipeline work that took him to the Northeast states where he learned the craft of working with heavy machinery and truck driving. Later he worked in Texas, and for several years, on the infamous King Ranch, were he developed a keen understanding of cattle, horses and other livestock.

For many years, Cotton remained a very private person having only occasional contact with family in Oklahoma. Somewhere along the way he became very adept at cards and dominoes, frequently taking the money of those who set down at his table or he just thrived on the thrill of winning. He enjoyed many hours of entertainment playing the table games and he only put them aside within the last few weeks before his death.

Cotton came home to the Chelsea area in 1951 and later purchased pasture and raised cattle until ill health made it necessary for him to leave his cattle business and sell his place. He became a resident at Baptist Village in Owasso, where he lived until the time of his death. He made many friends at the Village and was quickly accepted as the, "Prince of the Campus." His friends near Chelsea and all over Rogers County remained uppermost in his thoughts and conversations, always longing to return to Rogers County before nightfall.

Aday was preceded in death by his parents, Henry and Tera; brothers: Sonny Boy, Narval, Curtis, Jimmie and Horace; and his sister Oneida Aday Layton.

He is survived by seven brothers: Roy and wife, Delphine, David and wife, Virginia, Walter and wife, Naomi, Harold, Wilford and wife, Janice, Billy and wife, Gail, and Russell and wife, Billie; two sisters-in-law, Mary Jo Copeland Aday and Rua Hall Aday; a host of nieces and nephews and friends throughout Rogers County and from across the country.

While a young boy, Cotton accepted Jesus as his Savior and during his later life he developed a deeper faith in God often sharing his faith with others.

Memorial Donations may be made in Cotton's name to First Baptist Church, 413 Beech St., Chelsea, OK 74016, or the Seasons Hospice, 6532 East 71st Street, Suite100, Tulsa, OK, 74133.