Obituary for Geraldine “Jill” Horstman

Services for Geraldine Catherine “Jill” Horstman will be held at 11:00 a.m., Saturday, May 16th in the Roberts and Son Funeral Home Chapel in Blackwell with Rev. Scott Spencer of Albright United Methodist Church in Ponca City officiating. Interment will follow in the Blackwell Cemetery.

Jill passed away on Tuesday, May 12, 2015, at her home in Blackwell due to a heart ailment. She was born on December 5, 1924, to Clarence Levi Lemons and Katie Belle (Ragsdale) Lemons on their family farm near Madill in the community of Russett, Oklahoma. She was the ninth child in a family of nine.

She attended school in Russet where she played on the women’s basketball team and graduated as salutatorian of her 1942 class. She married Preston Lee Horstman of Blackwell on November 25, 1942, and had their only child, Preston Lee Horstman Jr., in October of 1943.

Jill worked for S. H. Kress Department Store in downtown Blackwell for early twenty-four years as head cashier until it was closed and turned into a fabric store. Ultimately, it became Dollar General, and she served as manager until its closing.

Jill was a voracious reader, and loved to do puzzles. She also loved to paint, and leaves nineteen finished oil paintings of landscapes, seascapes, and animals. She was a member of Albright United Methodist Church in Ponca City.

Her caretakers in her final months were her son, her nieces, Linda Collins of Sand Springs, Goldia Clonts of Blackwell, and her great niece, Suzy Stanley of Blackwell.

She was preceded in death by her husband in 2005 and her eight siblings; Clara, Hobart, Laurence, Clifford, Leona, Goldia, Nolan, and Nova. She is survived by her son, Preston Jr. and his wife Margaret Ann of Dallas, Texas; a granddaughter, Heather Michelle Murphy and her husband Chris of Tulsa; three great granddaughters, Kaitlyn, Madeline, and Caroline; and thirty-seven nieces and nephews.