Loveda June Garner was born June 24, 1933. She died Tuesday, May 3, 2016 at her home in Tulsa.

Born in Talihina, Okla., to Homer and Alice Smith, her family settled in Wilburton, Okla. in the late 1940s. Loveda's father managed the dairy at Eastern Oklahoma State College. And, it was where she would meet her husband, Robert Garner in the summer of 1950, between their junior and senior years of high school.

Loveda was jerking sodas at the town's bakery, a high school hangout. Bob said he was overwhelmed by how beautiful she was, and it was love at first sight. Bob and Loveda married June 19, 1952. Loveda gave birth to their first daughter, Linda, in 1953.

Loveda worked to support their small family as a secretary at the Oklahoma Board of Education while Bob finished college. Once he graduated, they followed Bob's career anywhere and nearly everywhere in the Southern U.S. where oil could be found.

Their second daughter, Lisa, was born in 1959 in Liberal, Kansas.

Hooked at the hip since they were married, Bob remembers Loveda as his grounding force. "She had a wonderful way of keeping my ego in check," he said.

She was a loving, strong mother of two, grandmother of five, and great grandmother of one. Her family remembers her as an elegant woman who made friends easily with her sense of humor and easy charm. A devout Christian from a young age, she was involved in numerous charities, including extensive work with the Salvation Army. Loveda and Bob traveled the world together surrounded by a group of friends they've maintained for more than 40 years.

Loveda is survived by her husband, Robert Garner, her two daughters, Linda and her husband Ben Heider and Lisa and her husband Hank Boswell, her five grandchildren and their spouses and her great granddaughter.

Friends can honor Loveda's memory with contributions to a charity of their choice.

Memorial Service: 11:00 a.m. Saturday at Parkview Baptist Church.

Fitzgerald Southwood Colonial Chapel, 918-291-3500.