Velma Louise Campbell Ferguson

Velma Louise Campbell Ferguson, aged 103, died peacefully on December 19, 2024, after a very long life. She was born in an Oklahoma farmhouse May 9, 1921 to Emma May Romang Campbell and James Arthur Campbell. She was the eldest and last surviving of seven siblings, six girls and one boy.

Velma grew up on the family wheat farm outside of Enid, Oklahoma, where the family outlasted the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. When she was old enough, her mother taught her to be an excellent seamstress, a vital job on the farm, and a skill she would employ throughout her life. She attended a one-room schoolhouse and went on to become Valedictorian of her class at Garber High School. After completing two years at Tonkawa Junior College with the aim of becoming a teacher, Velma enrolled at Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College (later Oklahoma State University). After one semester, for financial reasons, she took the Civil Service Exam and accepted a job in the secretarial pool at the Corps of Engineers in Tulsa. At 103 years old she remembered the exact date she started: January 15, 1941. She stayed with the Corps through World War II until the day she was married, July 11, 1946, to William Henry Ferguson in Tulsa, on her father's birthday and what her mother always remembered as the hottest day of her life.

They lived in Oklahoma City while Bill earned two engineering degrees on the G.I. Bill at Oklahoma University, then moved to Tulsa where they became the parents of two sons, James William and Robert Earle. They moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, then settled in Houston, where Bill became the Plant Manager for Uncle Ben's Rice converted rice mill.

As soon as the boys were old enough, Velma went to work for the Houston Independent School District. She spent many years there, including as the secretary for the district's Program for the Hearing Impaired at Montrose Elementary School. Velma clearly enjoyed her work, and after retirement, somehow always would end up as the secretary – for her Sunday School class and various Women's Scholarship Clubs. She was active in the Retired Teacher's Association.

Velma and Bill traveled widely in North America and Europe. She loved the extended family of her siblings and stayed in close touch with her sisters, her brother, and their children, always enjoying a Thanksgiving celebration with the Campbell Clan.

After Bill died in 1994, Velma stayed in their Houston home until 2014, when she moved to the Treemont Community in Houston, where she continued to make new friends, and received excellent care in the last months of her life, living long and complaining little.

Velma maintained steadfast love for her sons, daughters-in-law, granddaughter, and great grandsons. She is survived by her sons, James Ferguson of Katy, Texas (Dr. Ruthmarie Galaviz), Robert Ferguson of Ashfield, Massachusetts (Margaret Gladstone), her granddaughter Crystal Ferguson Helcel (Dr. David), and her two great-grandsons, Gerald and Felix Helcel.

Velma's ashes will be interred alongside those of Bill, beside the remains of her parents, in the Paradise Cemetery in Breckenridge, Oklahoma, at a date to be decided by the family. For those desiring, donations in her name may be made to your favorite charity.