A graveside service for Mary Nielsen, 89, will be 1:00 PM Wednesday, December 28, 2016, at Ft. Gibson National Cemetery, with arrangements by Anderson-Burris Funeral Home. Visitation with family will be Tuesday 5:30 – 7:00 PM at the funeral home.
Mary was one of twelve children born to Frank Marion and Eva Mae (McCoy) O’Banion on July 24, 1927, in Joplin, Jasper, Missouri, and died Friday, December 23, 2016, in Enid. She was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Mary will be greatly missed by so many who loved her. She never met a stranger.
Mary spent much of her young life in Johnson, Stanton, Kansas, where she attended school and endured dust storms of the time. On February 16, 1946, she married Max Hollingsworth in Dodge City, Ford, Kansas, and they had one daughter, Naomi Ruth.
July 1, 1952, she married Veryl Wayne Storey in Raton, Colfax, New Mexico, and from this marriage there were two children: Veryl Jr. and Marilyn Janice. During this marriage, they owned a custom harvesting company, and traveled north to south cutting fields of grain, and worked on the Storey farm and ranching business in Southwest Kansas.
Mary married Berger O. Nielsen on January 21, 1974 in Denver, Colorado. This marriage brought many good things into Mary's life. She owned a turquoise jewelry shop in Brighton, Colorado, and raised dogs, often including champions. She received her GED at age 65. Mary loved handwork, was a self-taught tatter, wrote a family history book, and loved genealogy. A move to Grove, Oklahoma, gave her an opportunity to work in the Grove Library.
Mary is survived by two sisters, LuVada Mae Dilts of Moberly, Missouri, and Pattty Lucille Richardson (Chris) of Enid; two brothers, Alford Wesley O’Banion (Beth) of Stillwell, Kansas, and Marion Ray O’Banion (Sharon) of Tonganoxie, Kansas; daughters, Ruth (Hollingsworth) Skinner and Marilyn (Storey) Velasquez Brochu (Joey), all of Enid; three grandchildren: Tara Dawn Skinner of Enid, and Nathan Drew Velasquez (Debra) and Bradley Daniel Velasquez (Rocio), all of Oklahoma City; three great-grandchildren: Emma, Dakota and Ryker; and many nieces and nephews (including great and great-great) and nwhich she loved very much.
She was preceded in death by her son Veryl Wayne Storey, Jr., two brothers, Joseph Edward O’Banion, and Frank, Jr; five sisters, Molly Louise, Bettie Lee, Ann Gertrude, and Wilma J.
Memorials may be made to Hospice Circle of Love.
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