Class of 1943
1943 Graduation EditionPerry Daily Journal
Willa Jean Adams
Three members of the W. S. Adams family of Lucien will be serving the country in one direct manner or another when Willa Jean Adams graduates from Perry high school this spring and enters nurses training.
Willa Jean has lived in Perry for around 13 years, although she was born 17 years ago in Lucien. She attended grade schools here and in Lucien. School honors attained include serving as homeroom secretary, student council member, orchestra and band. She belongs to the Order of Rainbow for Girls and has played with the band in Enid for the past two years.
She has two brothers, both in the army. One, Lt. Merwyn Adams, is at Carlsbad, N. M. and the other, Pfc. Robert Adams, is in the army air forces at Wilburton.
Willa Jean (Adams) Thomas
September 16, 1925 – April 17, 2009
September 16, 1925 – April 17, 2009
Willa Jean Thomas, 83, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, formerly of Perry, Oklahoma, was the daughter of William Spaulding and Manilla Lorene Johnson Adams. She was born September 16, 1925 at Perry, Oklahoma and died Friday, April 17, 2009 at Inverness Assisted Living in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
On April 22, 1944, she and William Harcourt Thomas were married in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma. Her husband preceded her in death on January 28, 2002. Willa was a homemaker and a great cook. She had a green thumb and enjoyed gardening and sewing. She was a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Tulsa and Daughters of the American Revolution and Daughters of the American Colonists.
Graveside services will be at 10:00 a.m. Monday, April 20, 2009 in the Grace Hill Memorial Pavilion at Grace Hill Cemetery in Perry. Services are under the direction of Brown-Dugger Funeral Home. Memorials may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association in care of Brown-Dugger Funeral Home, 1010 N. 7th Street, Perry, Oklahoma 73077.
Willa is survived by three daughters and one son, Connie Beth Bass, of Austin, Texas, Cathy Streight, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Mike Thomas, of Tulsa, Oklahoma and Susan Hammond, of Bixby, Oklahoma; nine grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
In addition to her husband, she was preceded in death by her parents, William and Manilla Adams, and two brothers, Robert Adams and Barney Adams.