Funeral service for Juanita Mae Russell will be 2 p.m., Mon., Jan. 21, at First Christian Church of Chelsea with Rev. Richard Billings officiating. Burial will follow at Chelsea Cemetery under the direction of the Chelsea Funeral Home & Crematory.
Juanita passed away Thurs., Jan. 17, 2013, in Tulsa.
Juanita was born 99 ½ years ago, 4 ½ miles northwest of Chelsea on Spencer Creek to John Cochran and Pearl McMahan Cochran.
Her family moved to Ebenezer Missouri, where they lived for several years before moving to Springfield in a 17 room apartment house. It was four houses south of Drury College on Benton Street. Juanita often stated that she wished she had a dollar for every time she skated around Drury College. After a few years there the family moved back to Oklahoma to a farm close to her dad’s Indian allotment, where Juanita graduated from Chelsea High School.
In 1931 Juanita married Guss M. Russell, together they had three children Patsy Lee, Joanna Mae and Jimmie Lynn. Their marriage lasted 65 ½ years until his death in 1996. As a homemaker she had many hobbies. She loved to make quilts and crochet, can vegetables from their garden and later in life her love of genealogy.
Juanita worked at Eastern State Psychiatric Hospital for 12 years, it was challenging and rewarding, and she loved every minute of it.
Juanita was preceded in death by her husband Guss McBride Russell, Mother Pearl Halley, Father John Cochran, her daughter Patsy Lee Haynes and son-in-law Jerry Haynes and by her daughter Joanna Mae Russell.
She is survived by her son Jim Russell and wife Debbie, granddaughters Carrie Haynes Hudnall and her husband Dan Hudnall, and their son Mark Hudnall; Stephanie and her husband Steve Shupper and their children Jackson and Brady and Dawn Zindler and her husband Corey and grandsons James Russell and wife Sarah and their children Benjamin and Andrew, Russell Haynes and wife Robin and their children McKayla and Jacob Haynes and long time friend Jack Kouri and caregiver and friend Patti Birge.