Biography

Leona Neafus, 89, was born June 15, 1920 in San Antonio, Texas. Her parents were Maggie Robinson and Jack Emerick. Leona was brought to Oklahoma as an infant by her mother and lived in Mannsville until her mother married J. W. Tennyson, a Baptist minister in 1922. She has spent most of her life in Marshall County where she finished high school at Aylesworth in May of 1938. Her family moved to Kingston later that year. She worked at the telephone office there until her first marriage in 1940 to Clifford Purser. A daughter was born to her in 1949. Later in 1957 she was married to Fred Neafus. A son was born in 1961. At the age 16, Leona professed Christ, received him into her heart and committed her life to Jesus. She was baptized in Glassy Creek near the Cliff Community. The Lord gave her many talents. She was a homemaker and she enjoyed cooking, sewing, gardening, doing crochet and embroidery work. Her hobbies were reading, writing poetry and songs. She taught herself to play the piano and she played for the churches, taught Sunday school in the different churches where she was a member. Before her husband passed away they traveled extensively in the USA from coast to coast. She loved Oklahoma, Marshall County and Madill more than any place she’d ever been. She did not have a favorite scripture, the whole bible was her favorite scripture, but she loved the words of Job when he said, “Though he slay me ye will I trust in Him.”
She is survived by:
Daughter: Brenda Purser, Louisville, Kentucky
Son: David Neafus, Madill, Oklahoma
Grandson: Gordon Neafus, Clayton, Oklahoma
Sisters: Lillie Hartley, Panhandle, Texas
Mary Hollingsworth, Panhandle, Texas
Leona was preceded in death by parents and her husband.

Visitation

Tuesday February 9, 2010, 10 am - 9 pm at Watts Funeral Home, Madill, Oklahoma
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Funeral Service

Wednesday February 10, 2010, 10 am at Watts Memorial Chapel, Madill, Oklahoma
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Interment

Wednesday February 10, 2010 at Oakland Cemetery, Oakland, Oklahoma
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