Mary Lu Harlow

Mary Lu Maxon Harlow, age 68, of Edmond, OK passed away on Wednesday, December 3, 2014. She was born on October 19, 1946 in Niagara Falls, NY to Warren and Beverly Maxon of Webster City, IA. She was the third of four children: John Michael Maxon of Greenville, NC, Sue Ann Maxon Ross of Lewiston, NY, and Warren Howard Maxon II (Joe) of Denver, NC.

She earned an associates degree in 1966 in Early Childhood Education from Southern Seminary in Buena Vista, VA and married Barry Randolph Harlow in Bridgeport, WV on August 10, 1968.

As an Air Force wife, Mary Lu lived and worked in many different cities including: Biloxi, MS, teaching 6th grade Science, Winston Salem, NC, as a mom, Woodbridge, VA as a substitute teacher, and then back to Biloxi to teach Kindergarten. After that she lived in Churchill England, where she worked as a teacher’s assistant for emotionally disturbed children in the Department of Defense school system. Next she went to Bellville, IL where she directed an educational program at a residential facility for developmentally challenged adults. After her husband was reassigned to Oklahoma City, she became the director of several La Petite Academy child development centers. She then moved to Loch Sheldrake, NY where she was an elementary reading coordinator. After that she moved to Waterville, ME where she taught Kindergarten. She then returned to Oklahoma and worked with special needs children at Chisholm Elementary and Cimarron Middle School in Edmond. Mary Lu also lived a short while in Purcell, OK working as an English as a Second Language coordinator at the elementary school. Finally, she returned to Edmond where she worked at Santa Fe High School as a teaching assistant for special needs children, retiring in 2009.

Mary Lu is survived by her three siblings as well as her husband Barry, her three children, Leigh Harlow Phillips and her husband Lance of Edmond, OK, Barry Harlow II and his wife Mary of Trophy Club, TX, David Harlow and his wife Krystal of Edmond, OK, and 7 grandchildren.

Friends and family are invited to a memorial service on Friday, December 12, 2014 at 2 pm at the Memorial Park Historic Cemetery Chapel 13400 N. Kelley Ave. in OKC, OK.