Services for John Raymond Price, 76, Jenks, were at 11 a.m. Monday, October 15, at First Baptist Church in Jenks. Dr. Glenn Plum and Rev. Troy Hayes officiated.
Interment was in Bixby Cemetery under the direction of Leonard and Marker Funeral Home.
Pallbearers were Woody Russell, Bill Twilley, Vernon Gill, Jim Smith, Lewis Bejcek and John Bunyard. Honorary bearers were David Taylor, Dalton Linder and Leroy Huff.
Price died Thursday, October 11, in Tulsa.
Born January 3, 1925, in Jenks, the son of Nolen Richard and Oma Creekmore Price, Price attended most of his schooling in Jenks before transferring to Liberty High, graduating in 1942. He worked for Brady Oil company in Bixby before enlisting in the Army in 1943. He served as a paratrooper in England, Holland, France, Belgium and Germany. After his honorable discharge, he worked for Mid-Continent Refinery and later for Chandler, Frates, and Reitz Insurance as a clerk, remaining there until his retirement.
John was preceded in death by his parents, Nolen and Oma Price and one brother, Alvie Fred Price. He is survived by one brother, Benny Price and wife Jackalee of Bixby; two sisters, Ruby Barnett of Jackson, South Carolina and Lucille Patterson of Tulsa; three nieces, five nephews and many other relatives and friends.
My friend, John Raymond Price, died Thursday. It's amazing how you don't recognize what a comfortable, familiar part of life a person becomes until he is gone. That's what John Price was to my life.
John always resided in the little house at the corner of 5th and "A" Streets in Jenks. He lived with his Dad and Mom, Nolen R. and Oma Price. After Nolen passed on, John was a faithful son and caregiver to his Momma. He cherished her until her passing several years ago. Throughout those years of caring for his widowed Momma, you could find John sitting outside in front of his old garage, which faced out on 5th Street, honing his woodworking skills. Among his hand-turned treasures, he made little wooden woodpeckers, brightly painted in red, yellow, black and white. These little guys were designed to hang on the side of a tree, as if climbing up the bark. I wish I'd bought one.
The larkspur he had planted along the west side of his little house created a riot of color in the Springtime into the early Summer. Pinks, blues, whites, and purples made that corner of Jenks a technicolor showstopper. The backyard was always fence-to-fence garden, full of the juciest, reddest tomatoes, the plumpest squashes and towering, vegetable-laden greenbean poles. Along with his woodworking skills, John sported a green thumb!
John was a faithful member of the First Baptist Church of Jenks, where he earned special recognition for having attended Sunday School for twenty-nine years without missing a Sunday. He served his church faithfully and with gladness, as he kept the grassy areas and the flower beds maticulously manicured. Every Saturday was spent in service at his church, doing whatever needed to be done. John loved to sing, and blessd those who heard him with his clear tenor voice. He sang with a spirit of joy that transferred to those who were his audience. The Lord Jesus shined through John Price; the Lord Jesus that John Price served and lived for.
The J. F. Rooker and Roy Love homes located in the 200 block of East "A" Street were torn down in the early seventies to make room for a large parking lot. That new parking lot was to facilitate parking for the church and also for the businesses located along Main Street of Jenks. When the lots were bulldozed, they left behind two huge pecan trees . . . one native and one papershell. Each Fall the Strain family had a friendly competition going with John, scouring that parking lot for the pecans that fell from those stately, ancient trees that were part of the Rooker homeplace. It was not nearly so much fun to gather those pecans after John was unable to sneak out early in the morning to gather his share!
Just a few years ago, John sold his family home to a business concern. The new owners promptly painted the little place purple! He was always amazed at the changes that were made to the little frame house he called home all of his life. Purple! He just couldn't figure that one out!
John and I remained friends after he gave up bachelor-housekeeping and decided to let the kind people at Grace Living Center do some of the work for him. It was there that we visited, laughed, sang and shared stories from the past. He spent many of his last weeks coloring pictures that were copied out of coloring books for him by the nurses at Grace, and what an artist he really was! I am the pround owner of one of his colorful creations!
Two weeks before he went to be with his Lord and Savior, John sat in the lunchroom at Grace and I had a chance to visit with him for the last time. Again, we recalled a few memories, conjuring up pictures from the past when Jenks was a small, intimate community, where everybody knew everyone else by their first names. And as he spoke, aware of how many years had gone by, he sighed deeply and said simply, "Susan, I'm tired." And he was. And now he rests.
Goodbye for just a little while, John. I'll keep the larkspurs blooming!
