Charlene M. Oliver

Charlene Mae Wilkins Oliver passed away Thursday, October 10, 2013, at 10:20 a.m. at home in Tulsa, OK. She was 82 years old. Charlene was born in Sardis, Oklahoma, and grew up in nearby Clayton, Oklahoma. She was the oldest of 7 children born to Charlie Columbus Wilkins and Edna Mae Baker Wilkins Snow. Her father died when she was 14; she had promised him that she would finish high school and try to go to college and that she would make certain that all her siblings graduated from high school; she kept that promise. Her mother later married Carrie Snow, who already had 5 children, and four more sisters were born to them. She married Augustus C. "Gus" Oliver (son of the late William L. "Bill" Oliver and Lottie V. Birdwell Oliver), who grew up in the Three Forks Community near Belton, Texas, on December 25,1953 in Bartlesville, Oklahoma where they both worked for Phillips Petroleum Company. They immediately moved to Temple, Texas, where they lived until 1958, when they moved to Borger, Texas, where they raised their two children. They lived their later life in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where both of their children also resided. Charlene and Gus have 3 grandchildren. Charlene earned a Bachelor's at Mary Hardin-Baylor College and two Master's degrees at West Texas State University. She was a retired computer programmer from American Airlines in Tulsa and was a math teacher at Pampa and Stinnett High Schools in Texas. She is survived by her husband Gus Oliver, Sr., now age 90, her daughter Susan Oliver and husband Durand Lugar, son Augustus C. "Gus" Oliver, Jr. and wife Regina Howard Oliver, grandsons Will Lugar and Levi Lugar, and granddaughter Sheila Oliver, all of Tulsa, Oklahoma. She is also survived by brothers and sisters-in-law Charles & Mary Wilkins of Duncanville, TX, Sony & Betty Jo Snow of Pilot Point, TX, Danny Snow of Scurry, TX, her sisters and brothers-in-law, Gladys Blanton of Vidor, TX, Dolly Caraway of Val Alstyne, TX, Sue & Don Warren of Waynesboro, TN, Peggy & Ronnie Robison of Trenton, TX, Linda & Garry Anderson of Bonham, TX, Betty & Jimmy Frazier of Blue Ridge, TX, Joyce & Vernon Shaw of Whitehouse, TX, and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, her brothers, Wayland Wilkins, Frank Wilkins, and Wayne Snow, and her sisters, Barbara Chancellor and Donnie Mae Pike. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the American Heart Association, the Alzheimer's Foundation, or the educational institution of your choice. There was a memorial service in Tulsa on Tuesday, October 15, at 1pm at Lighthouse Church (71st and Union, just west of Highway 75). At Scanio-Harper Funeral Home in Temple, Texas, the viewing will be at 6-8 p.m. Thursday, October 17, and the funeral will be at 3pm Friday, October 18, followed by a trip to the Mary Allen Oliver Cemetery.