Obituary for Celia Yoder

Celia Bell Yoder

(November 11, 1915 – July 27, 2016)

Celia Bell (Richardson) Yoder, formerly of Blackwell, Oklahoma, died Wednesday, July 27, 2016, in the Good Samaritan Center in Olathe, Kansas, at the age of 100 years.

Celia Bell (Richardson) Yoder was born on November 11, 1915, in rural Renfrow, Oklahoma, to Leonard and Bertha (Belmear) Richardson. After finishing eighth grade at Prairie Home, District 18 School and graduated from Medford High School in 1933. She received her Associate in Arts Degree from Northern Oklahoma Junior College in Tonkawa and her teaching certification from Northwestern Teachers’ College in Alva.

After four years of teaching in rural schools in Grant and Kay Counties, she married Daniel J. Yoder at her parents’ home east of Tonkawa on March 15, 1940. They lived in Blackwell until World War II when they moved to Wichita where her husband worked as a technician for Beech Aircraft. After returning to Blackwell she served as a substitute teacher and as the first PTA president of the new Huston School which was built following the 1949 tornado that destroyed the South Main School. She was interested in her son’s activities and served as homeroom mother and was a Den Mother for five years. She was especially proud of her son’s Boy Scout achievements.

Celia Bell worked as the assistant bookkeeper and insurance clerk for Osler Clinic from 1960 until her retirement in 1977. She also worked as bookkeeper for her husband’s business, Yoder Construction. Following retirement, the Yoders spent the winters in their 5th wheel in a south Texas park near Westlaco.

She was a member of the Blackwell Church of Christ, the Blackwell Charter Chapter of American Business Women’s Association, the Top of Oklahoma Historical Society, AARP, Daughters of the American Revolution and Olathe Visual Artists. She also enjoyed helping others, teaching children’s and ladies Bible classes and was very involved in landscape painting, genealogy, writing family history and doll collecting.

Following her husband’s death in 2001, she moved to Olathe, Kansas, to be near family.

She is survived by two sons, D. J. Yoder and wife Carole of Ft. Myers, Florida, and David Yoder of Boulder, Colorado; granddaughters, Kristen Caton of Dallas, Texas, Fara Yoder and husband Tom Gagney of Houston, Texas, Natha Darnell and husband Tae of Boulder, Colorado, and Naomi Yoder of New Orleans, Louisiana; and great grandchildren, Emilia and Augustus Caton, and Evabella and Kellia Perkins.

She was also preceded in death by her parents; two sisters, Ruby Miller and LaVerne Strube; and a brother, James “Jimmy” Richardson.

Services are scheduled for 10:00 a.m., Monday, August 1st in the Blackwell Church of Christ with Rev. Adam Hamilton of the Church of Resurrection in Olathe, Kansas, and Lanny Jobe of the Blackwell Church of Christ officiating. Burial will follow in the Blackwell Cemetery.

A memorial has been established in her honor with the Blackwell Church of Christ in c/o Roberts and Son Funeral Home, 120 W. Padon, Blackwell, Oklahoma 74631.