Jimmy Lou O’Brien Jones

Funeral service for Jimmy Lou O’Brien Jones, 93, Cache, Oklahoma will be 10 a.m. Tuesday, June 29 at Indiahoma First Baptist Church with the Rev. Jimmy Lehew, Rev. Les Banks, and Rev. Scott Patton officiating.

She died Thursday, June 24, 2021, at the home of her daughter and son-in-law.

Burial will be in Springhill Cemetery, south of Cooperton under the direction of Becker-Rabon Funeral Home of Snyder.

The family will greet friends Monday evening, June 28, 2021 from 5pm until 7pm at the funeral home in Snyder.

Jimmy Lou was born September 24, 1927, in Knox City, Texas to James Jefferson and Ouida Shaver O’Brien. She grew up in the Cooperton area and attended school at Fairview and Cooperton until her senior year. She and her family moved to Petrolia, Texas in 1943 where she graduated high school at the age of 16.

Her dream was to become a pilot, but she failed the vision test and then decided to follow her other dream – journalism and creative writing. She enrolled in Harding Junior College in Wichita Falls, Texas. She worked part time at First Methodist Church as assistant secretary to help pay the cost. Her father and mother became ill and she soon realized she needed to find a job to help support her parents and little brother. She went to her advisor and explained her situation and he suggested enrolling in their printing school. He told her very few women learned the trade because it’s a really dirty job, but she would make three times what she was making now. She said, “I’ll do it”. At the age of 17 she began learning the printing trade and became a Linotype operator which helped support her family and became her career for 35 years. In 1982, she went to work at Treasure Lake Job Corp as Counseling Aid/Secretary and retired in 1992.

Her passion for journalism and creative writing never left. When she retired from printing, she wrote articles for numerous newspapers and became an accomplished author when she published a historical fiction book “The Umbrella Tree” loosely based on her father’s life who homesteaded in Oklahoma Territory in 1901. She also wrote numerous short stories. At the time of her death, she was working on publishing her book of poems.

She married Jack Martin Whitaker in 1949. There were three children from this union: Jimmy Jack, Dixie Martin, and Cody Ann. She later married John DeVern Jones on September 22, 1964. They were married 44 years until his death in 2008. She was a devout Christian and member of Indiahoma First Baptist Church.

Survivors include a son, Jimmy Jack Whitaker, Cache; a daughter and son-in-law, Cody and Ronnal Stoll, Indiahoma; a daughter-in-law Diane Whitaker, Nashville, Tennessee; five grandchildren and their spouses: Jennifer Paxton, Chris and Becky Whitaker, Charley and Amber Hilliard, Julie Whitaker, Jeff and Heather Whitaker; eight great-grandchildren: Ryder, Azure, Lexi, Adelyn, Chloe, Cannon, Wyatt, and Waverly; sister-in-law, Joyce Jones; two special nieces and their spouses, Jane and Dino Valdez, Judy and Bill Lyons; and numerous family and friends.

She was preceded in death by her husband, John DeVern Jones; son, Dixie Martin Whitaker; parents, James Jefferson and Ouida O’Brien; brother and sister-in-law, Raymond and Glenna O’Brien.

Memorial Contribution may be made to Jimmy Jack Foundation Box 196 Snyder, Ok 73566 or to Springhill Cemetery, 13644 NW 287th Street, Roosevelt, OK 73564.