NORMAN — Funeral services for Mrs. Jane Proctor Smith, age 95, longtime Tulsa resident, will be 1 p.m. Thursday at the Moore Funeral Home Southlawn Chapel, 9350 E. 51st Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The family will receive friends from 9 to 11 a.m. Thursday at the same location.
Jane was born July 5, 1917 in Indianola, and was the daughter of Oliver Pope and Nora F. (Turner) Proctor. She passed away Friday morning, Dec. 28, 2012 at the Brookhaven Extensive Care in Norman.
Jane was raised in Indianola and graduated from Indianola High School in 1933. She then enrolled at the University of Oklahoma and graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Education in 1937 when she was 19 years old.
After her college graduation, Jane was united in marriage to Jack Thomas Smith on October 2, 1937 in Fairview, Oklahoma. Her husband was one of the original Oklahoma Highway Patrolmen and he was stationed in several different towns before he joined the Navy in 1943. Upon his discharge in 1946 they lived on a ranch outside of Indiahoma until he rejoined the patrol and moved to Purcell in 1953.
Jane was a career elementary educator, teaching in Purcell, Oklahoma from 1953 to 1958 and obtained her masters degree from the University of Oklahoma in 1957. She taught in Blackwell from 1958 to 1959 then moved to Tulsa where she taught at Burroughs and Fulton Elementary Schools. She retired in 1983 after 30 years of service.
Jane was devoted to her family. She was known for her homemade vegetable soup and scalloped potatoes and enjoyed the fellowship that occurred when sharing a meal with those she loved. Her favorite pastimes were working crossword puzzles, gardening and reading. She also had a deep interest in genealogy and traveled extensively while researching her family history.
Jane was a registered member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, a longtime member of the Will Rogers United Methodist Church of Tulsa and the Tulsa Retired Teachers Association.
She will be missed but we have been blessed to have our beloved “Gigi” in our lives and to have the legacy she has left to each of us. We have many precious memories.
Survivors include her son, Johnny P. Smith and his wife, Jeanne of Cypress, Texas; her daughter, Joan Cotton and her husband, Chuck of Norman, Oklahoma (formerly of Tulsa), one brother, O.P. “Pope” Proctor of Bartlesville, Oklahoma; five grandchildren, Lorrie Reibert and her husband, Scott, of Broken Arrow, Lani Luza of Cypress, Texas, Stephanie O’Hara, and her husband, Dirk, of Norman, Lindsey Clayton and her husband, Jason, of Austin, Texas, Melanie Obriotti and her husband, Andrew, of Dallas; eight great grandchildren, Tyler and Sarah Reibert, Hayleigh and Kara Luza, Aidan O’Hara, Norah and Henry Clayton, and Andrew “Tripp” Obriotti; one nephew, Bob Proctor and his wife, Kathy of Knoxville, Tennessee; and one niece, Pam Proctor of Tulsa.
She was preceded in death her parents and her husband, Jack Thomas Smith in August of 2000.
Memorial donations may be made to Clarehouse Hospice Home, 7617 S. Mingo Road, Tulsa, OK 74133 or Valir Hospice, 700 NW 7th St., OKC, OK 73102.
Burial will conclude in the Memorial Park Cemetery, 5111 South Memorial Drive in Tulsa.
Arrangements for Jane and her family have been placed in the care of the Vice Family at the Havenbrook Funeral Home of Norman.
Online condolences may be shared at www.havenbrookfuneralhome.com.
Norman Transcript, Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013
For local news and more, subscribe to The Norman Transcript Smart Edition, or our print edition.
Probe Begins After Conn. Commuter Trains Crash
NTSB Begins Investigation Into Conn. Train Crash
Lotto Fever Sweeps the Country
Conn. Commuter Trains Collide; 60 Go to Hospital
Coffee Run Leads to Hatchet Hitchhiker Arrest
Fmr. IRS Head Insists No Politics in Targeting
CDC: Fecal Bacteria Common in Swimming Pools
$1 Million in Jewels Stolen at Cannes Film Fest
NM Mom Chases Down Child Abductor
Raw: Crash Sends Car Into Fla. Pool
Raw: Obama Sits Down With Elementary Kids
Raw: Bear Falls From Tampa Tree
Ousted IRS Chief: Errors Not Caused by Politics
Terror Suspect Due in Court in Idaho Friday
Raw: Driver Ejected From Truck, Over Bridge
Could Tobacco Be the Next Biofuel?
Wash. State Releases Draft Rules for Legal Pot
Dying Man's Blinks Lead to Murder Conviction
Officials: Texas Tornado Likely Had 200 Mph Wind
Brothers Arrested in NOLA Parade Shooting
