Mary Ann Witter

Mary Ann Witter died June 30, 2021, at the age of 90 in Tulsa following an unexpected illness. Her daughter was at her side. Graveside services were set for Wednesday, July 7, at 2 p.m. at Memorial Park Cemetery in the family plot under the direction of Stumpff Funeral Home with Chaplain Randy Shaddox officiating. She was born on Aug. 1, 1930, at home in Tulsa to Clarence William Schmoll and Dorothy Frances Raines Schmoll. Mary Ann and her husband were the owners of Milo’s Fashion Footwear in Bartlesville. Prior to moving their business to a single location downtown, they leased the shoe departments at Koppel’s, later known as Steve’s. For the past 40 years, she and her husband have made their home on their ranch, located between Bartlesville and Nowata. She met her future husband, Milo Warren Witter, when they were in second grade in Bartlesville, and he always said he was going to marry her. On July 19, 1948, they were united in marriage in Bartlesville. This month they would have celebrated 73 years together. He was her escort when she was a royal attendant for the College High football queen in 1947. In her high school yearbook, her future husband listed as his pastime “He’ll take Mary Ann and hunting.” With her senior photo were the words “They go together: Mary and Milo.” She was a member of the Bartlesville Highland Park Baptist Church, joining the church when it still met at the Highland Park Elementary School. One year she and Milo enjoyed portraying shepherds at the church’s outdoor drive-by Christmas presentation. As a child she attended schools in Bartlesville, Wagoner, and in Tennessee, but the family always returned to Bartlesville. When she was 16, she worked at the refreshment counter at the Osage Theater, and then worked for the telephone company. After her only child was in school, she returned to work for several years in the teletype department at Phillips Petroleum Company. Even years later, she would be recognized as the woman who was on the cover of Philnews magazine representing her department. As a teenager in Bartlesville, she and a friend took part in roller-skating exhibitions, and she presented roller-skating dance exhibitions with her younger brother, Toby. Roller skating was a popular activity in downtown Bartlesville for young people. Mary Ann loved chocolate and ate it every day. She never gained an ounce. She was always a beautiful woman with marvelous dark brown eyes. She loved her red eyeglasses. She was the best-dressed mother in the world. Elegant was a word many applied to her. You would be chastised if you ever mentioned her closet filled with shoes, but that just came with having fashion shoe stores and loving shoes and purses. She loved being outdoors and she loved to fish. She enjoyed all of her beautiful plants and flowers outside and filled her lovely home with all kinds of plants. Mary Ann couldn’t whistle. She liked to watch Wheel of Fortune. She was a perfectionist. She loved to read, something she passed on to her daughter. She never missed calling Elaine Tate Gaut on May 1 to tell her she could now go barefoot. She never met a sandwich she didn’t like. As a child, a highlight of the family’s week was going to the grocery store and buying all the fixings for sandwiches. Beans and fried potatoes had been a family staple during World War II, and she never really liked them after those years. She was a fantastic cook, as her extended family knew well. Her family learned, after her 1995 retirement, that she loved basketball games and could explain all the rules to them. This, of course, came after she was dragged for years to football games. She was really tickled to get to sit on the lap of Oklahoma State University’s Pistol Pete when she visited her daughter during one of the days to honor mothers. Mary Ann loved dogs and had dogs her entire life. After her daughter brought home a cat in 1970, she also began a love affair with cats. The joy of her life was Peggy Sue, a little cat that showed up at her ranch. Peggy Sue was as devoted to her Nana as her Nana was to Peggy Sue. She excelled as a mother. No one has ever been as proud of her mother as her daughter. She taught her daughter by example how to live. The only thing she never did was to teach her daughter how to live without her. In lieu of flowers, donations to A.R.F. (Animal Rescue Foundation), 399519 US 60, Bartlesville, OK 74006, or to the charity of your choice.

Mary Ann Witter

August 1, 1930 - June 30, 2021