Oliver Johnston

September 04, 2008 11:32 am

— Oliver Johnston, 76, of Hartshorne, died Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2008, at St. John’s Medical Center in Tulsa.
Family will greet friends on from 6 to 8 tonight at Brumley-Mills Funeral Home in Hartshorne.
Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. Friday at Hartshorne First Baptist Church with the Rev. Jim Davidson officiating. Burial will be at Bache-Red Oak Cemetery. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Brumley-Mills Funeral Home of Hartshorne,
Born Nov. 7, 1931, in Dow, he was the son of Martha Louisa Johnston. His mother married Ernest Leslie Cook, who raised him from age 2. He grew up in Dow and attended school in Dow and Haileyville. He was a graduate of Haileyville High School in 1949. He attended Eastern Oklahoma A and M College in Wilburton.
In 1952 he entered the Navy, where he was stationed on the USS Layte. He returned to Dow in 1953.
He lived and worked in the Oklahoma City area for a few years before moving to Kansas. He became a licensed electrical contractor and worked many jobs as an electrician, including Martin-Marrietta and Rockwell.
He married Patricia Ann Berthot on Oct. 16, 1959, in Wichita, Kan. They eventually moved to Tulsa where he worked for Rockwell.
They returned to Hartshorne in 1966. He worked at McAlester Army Ammunition Plant as an electrician. He had his own electrical business for many years, retiring in 2001.
He and his wife purchased the old Crawley building at 11th and Penn in Hartshorne. They worked to renovate the building and in 2005 opened Paradise Donuts. He delivered donuts to many businesses around the McAlester area.
He was a member of First Baptist Church in Hartshorne, the Hartshorne-Haileyville Masonic Lodge No. 122 and a member of the Scottish Rite in Kansas.
Survivors include his wife, Patricia, of the home; six children and spouses, Blanche Marie Harmon and Tony, Cheryl Jean Johnston, Leslie Alana Bratcher and Bob, Atonya Ann Stites, Shaun Renee Borders, and Oliver Johnston II and Ginger; 16 grandchildren; six great-grandchildren.
Also, two brothers and sisters-in-law, Dr. George Ernest Cook and wife, Debbie, and John Henry Cook and wife, Earlene; four brothers-in-law and spouses; one sister-in-law, and numerous nieces and nephews.
Pallbearers will be Doyle Copeland, Wesley Parham, Max Sweetin, J.W. Stephenson, Billy Don Smith, and Jim Gibson.
Honorary pallbearers will be Kenneth Luker, Paul Diehl, Ronnie Robbins, Mickey Nolan, Alfred Smith, and other members of the Masonic Lodge No. 122.
He was preceded in death by his mother, Martha Louisa Johnston Cook; stepfather, Ernest Leslie Cook; grandparents, Lydia and George William Johnston, and sister-in-law, Ann Cook.

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