Nora Jo Larson
Nora Jo Larson
Nora Jo Larson of Eakly passed away in Lubbock, Texas, on Jan. 28, 2020. She was 98 and named by her grandchildren as Jo Jo and later Ju Ju.
Born July 1, 1921, in Nashville, Ark., to James Cleveland and Luna Mable Crowell, she was the sixth of 10 children: Four boys (Dexter, Emlis, Guy and Chester) and six girls (Lois, Lavell, Mable, Wilda Jeanne and Rema Dell).
When she was 3, the family moved from Nashville to a farm near Oney.
She grew up working on the family farm near Oney helping raise cattle and hogs and pulling cotton and shocking hay. She helped her mother with cooking for a large family and learned from her mother the art of cooking and serving delightful food.
She graduated from Oney High School and attended Oakdale Baptist Church where the family crowded into the car to go to church.
Her father taught the children music and she learned how to play the piano and was pianist at Oakdale Baptist Church for many years.
The end of the Great Depression, the droughts of the Dust Bowl and the onset of World War II would shape her life.
She married Emil W. Larson on Feb. 17, 1943, and they were parents to three children: Terry, Annenda and Emily.
Nora Jo worked for a brief time in Renton, Wash., for Boeing while Emil was stationed in the U.S. Army before he was shipped to Germany as an infantryman.
After WWII, Nora Jo and Emil bought their first farm near Eakly. They spent their lives farming and raising their family in the Eakly and Lookeba-Sickles area.
Nora Jo was a member of Oakdale Baptist Church for 80 years. She and Emil were early supporters of the development of Cedar Hills Baptist Youth Camp near Binger.
Nora Jo was well-acquainted with hard work including driving tractors, moving irrigation pipe, hoeing peanut and cotton fields and cooking.
She loved to cook and was known for the delicious meals she cooked for family, friends, farm hands and at church gatherings. She loved gospel music and had a beautiful alto voice that lifted hearts.
She accepted Christ as a teenage girl and was a faithful member at Oakdale until her health declined.
She was predeceased by her husband, Emil; son, Terry; siblings, Lois, Lavell, Emlis, Dexter, Guy, Chester, Rema Dell, and son-in-law Larry Merrill.
She is survived by two daughters, Annenda Reynolds (Richard) of Kingfisher and Emily Merrill of Lubbock, Texas; two sisters, Mable Duckworth of Edmond and Wilda Jeanne King of Yukon; seven beloved grandchildren, Monte Larson, Darryn (Pat) Mills, Amber (Ray) Hite, Dawn (Kevin) Moore, Angie Larson, Royal (Amanda) Merrill and Rachel (Josh) Allen; 11 great-grandchildren and many precious nieces and nephews.
Services were 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 1, at Oakdale Missionary Baptist Church in Binger. Memorials may be sent to Cedar Hills Baptist Youth Camp, P.O. Box 39, Binger, OK 73009.