Published: November 29, 2008 02:42 pm            

Elizabeth Katherine (Eubank) Whetsel

Elizabeth Katherine (Eubank) Whetsel, 92, of McAlester, died Friday, Nov. 28, 2008, in McAlester.

Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. Monday at the Frink Baptist Church in McAlester with the Rev. James Collins and the Rev. Jerry Holloway officiating. Burial will be at Oak Hill Cemetery in McAlester under the direction of Chaney-Harkins Funeral Home of McAlester.

The family will greet friends today from 2 to 4 p.m. at Chaney-Harkins Funeral Home of McAlester.

Pallbearers include Larry Christman, Jim Gibson, Rick Christman, Cody Blake Arnold, Hank Thomason and “Bub” James Thomason.

Honorary pallbearers include James Riley, Gene Stipe, Mike Mass, Kenny Sherrill, Jim Rich, Bennie Durant, Max Kenyon, Mark Edwards, Eddie Harper, Joe Brown, Kevin Sharp, Bobby Kanimaya, James Kanimaya Jr., H.L. Thomason, Judge Tom Bartheld and Mark Clayton.

Born March 25, 1916, in Indianola, to John Alfred Eubank, M.D. and Edith M. (Miller) Eubank, she attended Indianola Public Schools and after graduation, she went to Eastern A&M College in Wilburton, and then transferred to Southeastern Oklahoma State College in Durant to obtain her teaching degree. She married Fred Whetsel. She was stationed with her husband at Fort Sill, Okla. in the late 1930s during the decommissioning of the U.S. Calvary.

She taught school at Indianola Public Schools, Frink Chambers Public Schools and McAlester Public Schools at Edmond Doyle, Jefferson and Emerson.

She was the co-chairman of the state of Oklahoma democratic party from 1952 to 1956, and was inducted to the Oklahoma Democratic Party’s Activist Hall of Fame. She was a member of Frink Baptist Church, McAlester.

Survivors include her sons, John Whetsel and wife, Lucille, of McAlester, Fred Whetsel and wife, Sharry, of Adamson; grandchildren, John Lloyd Whetsel and wife, Sherri, of McAlester, Kimberly Gibson and husband, Jim, of Adamson; great-grandchildren, Johnna Leigh Whetsel, Jaye Lynn Whetsel, Jenna Lane Whetsel, Jenson Lynn Whetsel, Tara Nichole Arnold, Cody Blake Arnold, and Tanner Reid Arnold.

And, nieces, Johnnie Sue McClain and husband, Clarence, of Wagner, Annette; cousin, Mary Ann Longest and husband, Bill, of Hooker; nephew, Sheriff John Whetsel, of Oklahoma City; sister-in-law, Alberta Mary Eubank, of Tulsa, and other family and friends.

She was preceded in death by her parents, John and Edith Eubank; her husband, Fred William Whetsel Sr., and two brothers John Alfred Eubank and Holman Eubank.

        

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