Wanda (Hawley) Montgomery

Wanda Hawley Montgomery born on June 24, 1921 in Bryan-Tupelo Oklahoma, the daughter of A.E. Hawley and Lizzie Colley. Wanda was a Chickasaw tribal member, where her family was one of the first names written in the original rolls of the Dawes Commission, an agency established in 1893 to negotiate land allotment among Native Americans and clear the way for Oklahoma to become a state.

Wanda’s maternal grandparents were Chickasaw, a tribe removed from the East and resettled in Oklahoma. Her paternal grandparents came from Canada and made the 1889 land run to obtain land originally designed for American Indians; they homesteaded in what would become the Britton community, north of Oklahoma City.

Wanda had 10 siblings, Alice Hawley Foreman, Lydia Hawley, Daisy Hawley Blackbird, Nell Hawley Crosby, Arthur Roy Hawley, Bess Hawley Kroutil, Emily Hawley Starnes, Fred Hawley, Ralph Randolph Hawley and Betty Lee Hawley Gibson.

Wanda spent most of her days as a schoolteacher, and then retired as a librarian, as she had always dreamed of being. Wanda had both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in education. She loved to read National Geographic magazines and read gardening magazines. Wanda was a one of a kind gardener. She had a green thumb and loved her plants. She would always be working in her garden with her two great grandchildren Cassandra Montgomery and Amie Montgomery. Wanda enjoyed taking walks down to the lake. She also loved to watch the Oklahoma City Thunder play.

She is preceded in death by her parents and siblings.

Survivors include her grandson Jeffrey Paul Montgomery, 2 great grandchildren Amie & Cassandra Montgomery, Step Son Mark Montgomery, 2 Nieces Pam Ray and Jenelle, 2 great nieces Hawley and Shannon, and long time friend Karen Gregory.