Obituary for Thelma Lansdown

Thelma Mae (Wright) Lansdown went home to be with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on Friday, July 11, at the age of 93.

A celebration of her life will be held on Tuesday at 2:00 PM at the Albright United Methodist Church with Pastor Scott Spencer and Reverend Matthew Ford, grandson, officiating. A visitation with the family will be held in the church social rooms following the service. A private family burial is for immediate family only. Arrangements are under the direction of Trout Funeral Home and Crematory.

Thelma was born April 9, 1921, in Ponca City, and was the daughter of Grover Cleveland and Myrtle Floy (Jones) Wright. Her father was killed falling off an oil derrick when Thelma was only 3 years old.

Thelma attended Lincoln Elementary School, Ponca City Junior High, and graduated from the Ponca City Senior High School in 1939. After attending secretarial school at NOJC in Tonkawa, she went to work at Continental Oil Company for a time and also worked there when her husband John was in the US Coast Guard during World War II.

On November 9, 1943, Thelma married John Lee Lansdown at the Evangelical United Brethren Church in Ponca City, where one of the officiants was the Rev. E. R. Lansdown, John’s father. The couple have been life-long residents of Ponca City and recently celebrated 70 years of marriage.

John and Thelma were the parents of two daughters, Carol Ann and Karen Sue, and were actively involved in their lives and later on were very much a part of the lives of their grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Thelma was once again employed at Conoco after having been a stay-at-home mom for about ten years. She worked in the Employee Benefits Division retiring in 1978. After retirement Thelma and John were actively involved in leading exercise at the Senior Citizen Center and delivered Meals on Wheels for 30 years. They were also honored to have been chosen as RSVP Volunteers of the Month by the Retired Senior Volunteer Program. John and Thelma very much enjoyed traveling together and visited many places during their retirement years.

She was an active member of the Albright United Methodist Church, formerly Evangelical United Brethren, having served as a Sunday School Teacher and in the choir there for many years. Thelma and John also drove the church van for many years to pick up people who needed rides to church services. They stopped driving the van when John reached his 90th birthday.

Thelma is survived by her husband John L. of the home; daughters Carol Green and husband Tom of Ponca City, and Karen Ford and husband Tony of Louisville, Kentucky; grandchildren Julie Green Howard and husband Don, Kelly Green Pettit and husband Marty, and John T. Green, all of Ponca City, Matthew Ford and his wife Marcia of Westminster, California, Joshua Ford of Louisville, Kentucky, and Elizabeth Alford and husband Chris, recently returned from residence in China; great grandchildren Trevor and Tyler Howard, Jackson, Emma, Katie and Judah Ford, Bailey, Zoe, and Max Alford. She is also survived by many nieces and nephews and a host of other family and friends.

She was preceded in death by her parents, sister Louise Wright Allen, and brothers Kenneth "Doc" Wright and Grover Cleveland Wright.

Thelma has requested that if desired memorials can be given in her honor to Albright United Methodist Church, 128 South Palm, Ponca City, OK 74601, or Hospice of North Central Oklahoma, N. Union St, Suite 103, Ponca City, OK 74601.

Source: Trout Funeral Home