Obituary for Elaine Wakefield

Ponca City Now - February 20, 2014 12:00 am

Elaine Mall Wakefield, resident of Ponca City, OK, passed away February 16, 2014 at Via Christi Village. She was 88.

Elaine was born to Ruth (Hildenbrand) and Ernest J. Mall in Clay Center, KS on May 31, 1925. She pursued a career in Nursing, getting her nursing diploma in Wichita, KS, then practicing nursing at the office of her uncle, Werner Mall, MD of Ponca City.

It was in Ponca that she met and, in 1948, married Robert Lee Askey. They had five children. She and Bob were among the founding members of St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in 1958. In 1965, Elaine went back to work as a nurse in the office of Harold Houk, MD and worked there until her retirement in 1986.

Three years after Bob’s death, Elaine married H. Allen Wakefield, also of Ponca City, and lived very happily with him for the past 23 years.

Elaine was raised an only child on a farm, and made a life where she was at the heart of large, loving, extended family. Her ability to accept people as they are, to be grateful instead of complaining and her intelligent sense of humor, endeared her to friends and family.

Elaine is survived by her husband, Allen, her five children, five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren: Jay Askey of Austin, Texas and his son, Max of Bremen, Germany; Susan Steiner and her husband Kurt from Zurich, Switzerland and Susan’s two daughters, Elaine Shore, Colorado Springs, and Jillian Houghton, Austin, TX; Jill Byrd of Phoenix, AZ; Philip Askey and his wife Sandra and their daughter Kara Askey of Olathe, KS; and David Askey, his wife Jamie and their sons, Evan and Jacob Askey of Norman, OK. The great-grandchildren are Hunter and Jemma Houghton, Austin, TX and Alexander Blurton, Colorado Springs, CO. She is also survived by Allen’s children, Judy Sanfilippo, Hartwell, GA, and Karen Wakefield, Houston, TX, and preceded into death by Allen’s son, Jim Wakefield, Ponca City, OK.

Source: Trout Funeral Home