November 04, 1954 - June 11, 2021
Bobby Lee Mann died June 11, 2021, at OU Medical Center following a long and valiant fight against lymphoma, and the complications of his treatment.
Bobby was born to Bobby Dean Mann and Erma Jean Nelson Mann on November 4, 1954, in Shattuck, Oklahoma, the first of three children. Except for brief sojourns to California and Alaska with his family when he was very young, Bobby grew to manhood in Beaver, graduating from Beaver High School in 1973. He excelled in both academic and athletic pursuits, including one of his proudest accomplishments: the 1973 Betty Crocker Homemaker of the Year, won through his mastery of home economics. He continued his education after high school at SWOSU in Weatherford and Panhandle State, earning a degree in accounting and passing the CPA exam on the first attempt. His professional career was wide and varied, including an accounting practice, insurance, ranching, horticulture, and quality control at a large food manufacturing plant ultimately owned by Tyson at the time of his retirement earlier this year. As an exercise of his joy in meeting and learning about people, he owned and managed a bar in Enid for a period of time. He married Debbie Hinton in 1974 and they had two children, Katrina Leigh Mann, born 1976, and Matthew Hinton Mann, born 1981. Bobby and Paula met in Enid in 2001, and they married in 2008. They have been inseparable through the course of their marriage, and Paula, with the loving support of her daughters, has been Bobby’s caregiver through the months of his illness, by his side constantly for the hard three months of treatment at the Mayo Clinic. His family and friends are truly grateful for their loving kindnesses.
Bobby was preceded in death by his grandparents; parents, Bobby and EJ; his step-father, Wade Phillips; and sister Debra Patterson. He is survived by his wife, Paula Ellis Mann; mother-in-law Shirley Ellis; daughter Katrina Mann and husband Scott; son Matthew Mann and wife Lydia; step-daughters Shawna Simmons and husband Doug, and Kara Biederman; his precious treasures, grandchildren Wiley, Maddie, Joey, Wes and wife Shannon, Kaylie and husband Tyler, Dakota and wife Lacey, Brenden, Parker, Kaden and Chance; great-grandchildren Cashton, Kenzie, Zoie, Evan and Emerson; sister Ladonna Mann Giessmann and brother-in-law Gary; step-brother Lyndon Phillips and step-sister Joni Isaac; his uncle and aunt Donald and Judy Mann; his aunt and uncle Yvonne and Merle Branstetter; his aunt Carol Ragsdale; numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins, and innumerable friends and colleagues.
Known for his wide-ranging base of knowledge, Bobby was the go-to guy in the family for questions ranging from food expiration to care of broken limbs on favorite trees. He could talk about cooking, coyote hunting, accounting, art, insurance, bird feeding, history, trivia, sports, all with equal mastery and ease. He loved to make people laugh, and could transition from curmudgeon to doting son or grandfather as events warranted. A talented story-teller, he kept Paula entertained for years with the detailed descriptions of the times when he was running with the Mexicans and Indians, with a highlight being the time when they invented shredded lettuce. His best friend, Scott Savage, says there are many, many stories about Bobby, but that everyone will understand if he saves them for an appropriate time. His sense of humor, wisdom, and joy will be missed terribly.
Services will be held on Friday, June 18, 2021, at 2:00 p.m. under the direction of Brown-Cummings Funeral Home, with interment in the Enid Cemetery.
Condolences may be made to the family online at www.Brown-Cummings.com. As one of Oklahomaʼs oldest single family owned and operated providers of funerals and cremations, Brown-Cummings is the name families have turned to for generations. They fully understand the honor and responsibility entrusted to them to preserve the story of oneʼs life. Visit 400 W. Maple, Enid, OK 73701. Call: (580) 237-5432.
Obituaries are posted, in part, due to the generosity of The Commons.
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