Husband of Dora Eunice Branson, daughter of Charles Henry Branson and Julia Alice Nicholson.

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Page Two
The Anadarko, Oklahoma, Daily News
Wednesday, March 28, 2001

Obituaries

ODAS WARD

Services for Odas Ward, 93, of Anadarko will be held at 2 p.m. Friday, March 30, 2001 at the First Baptist Church of Anadarko with John Dugger and the Rev. Russell Richardson officiating.

He was born Aug. 6, 1907 in Carter to Robert L. and Mary Magdalene (Fort) Ward and passed from this life Monday, March 26, 2001 in Anadarko.

He married the former Dora Branson Sept. 24, 1927 in Sayre. She preceded him in death.

Also preceding him in were his parents, 12 brothers and sisters and one son, Jack Ward, who was an declared missing in action in the Vietnam War.

He grew up on a farm near Carter. His mother died when he was three, leaving 12 children, including one set of twins and one set of triplets. His oldest sister helped their father raise the children.

He attended Port School near Carter.

He learned the craft of making and rebuilding mattresses, and in 1932 the family moved to Hinton and purchased a mattress factory. Five years later they moved to Anadarko.

They bought a home on five acres west of Anadarko and he continued the mattress business and also started selling used furniture in Anadarko and opened another store in Gracemont.

The family moved to a home on North First Street in Anadarko in 1941 and he lived there until he went to the nursing home a few years ago.

He retired from the mattress business and sold his furniture store in Anadarko in the late '70's and continued the store in Gracemont until after his wife died in 1987.

He was a very faithful member of the First Baptist Church and was a Sunday School teacher for many years and was a Sunday morning greeter, welcoming all who came to the church.

While his boys were in school he was active in the FFA activities and was a worker with the Boy Scouts.

Survivors include his son, Odas Lee Ward and daughter-in-law, Jacky, of Fort Stockton, Texas, their children, Ricky Ward of Clinton and Hollyce Johnson of Ruidoso, N.M.; his daughter-in-law, Jean Cummins Ward of Las Vegas, Nev., and her children, David Ward, of Hamilton, Mont., and Lisa Adams, Ronna Hammock and Jana Ewy, all of Las Vegas; his twin sister, Alice Hill of Missouri; 16 great-grandchildren; one great-great grandson; his faithful care-giver, Onita Massey and many loving friends.

Burial will be in Anadarko's Memory Lane Cemetery under the direction of Steverson Funeral Home of Anadarko.