MuskogeePhoenix.com, Muskogee, OK

Obituaries

February 2, 2013

Joan Mary Kershaw Putnam

— Joan Mary Kershaw Putnam, 79, died peacefully January 30, 2013, after a valiant seven-year battle with cancer. She was born to L.R. and Clara Kershaw, of Muskogee, OK. One of five children, she was the youngest by 4 minutes in a family blessed with two sets of twins. She graduated from Muskogee’s Central High School in 1951, and St. Mary’s College in South Bend, IN, in 1955. After college, she lived at the Barbizon Hotel for Women in New York City, working as a secretary for Blue Cross/Blue Shield. She returned to Oklahoma and started a family, raising five children. She mentioned recently that her favorite experience during her lifetime was “being a mom and a grammy.” She was also a successful owner/operator in the oil and gas business and a longtime parishioner at Christ the King Catholic Church.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her sisters, Patricia Lippmann Montgomery and Elizabeth Kunkel, and her brother, Robert Kershaw. She is survived by her twin sister, Jean Boehm of Muskogee, OK, her son, Dan Putnam, and his wife, Christine, of Edmond, her daughter Lucy Putnam of Cincinnati, OH, her son, Carl Putnam, and his wife Mari Ishibashi, of Lynchburg, VA, her son, Chris Putnam of Oklahoma City, and her daughter, Amanda Putnam, and her husband, Peter Koktavy, of Oklahoma City; and her eight well-loved grandchildren, Lauren Froh, Joe McConniel, Steve Froh, Tyler Putnam, Elliott Putnam, Clara Koktavy, Linus Putnam, and Olivia Koktavy, plus numerous cousins, nieces, nephews, and a host of friends.

The Putnam family is thankful to all who have made these last months easier with funny cards and messages of hope. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to either Christ the King Catholic School or Bishop McGuinness Catholic High School.

An Evening Prayer Service will be held on Thursday, February 7, at 6 pm at Smith & Kernke Funeral Home. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at Christ the King Catholic Church in Oklahoma City at 10 am on Friday, February 8, with interment to follow at Resurrection Memorial Cemetery.



 

Text Only
Obituaries
AP Video
Probe Begins After Conn. Commuter Trains Crash NTSB Begins Investigation Into Conn. Train Crash Lotto Fever Sweeps the Country Conn. Commuter Trains Collide; 60 Go to Hospital Coffee Run Leads to Hatchet Hitchhiker Arrest Fmr. IRS Head Insists No Politics in Targeting CDC: Fecal Bacteria Common in Swimming Pools $1 Million in Jewels Stolen at Cannes Film Fest NM Mom Chases Down Child Abductor Raw: Crash Sends Car Into Fla. Pool Raw: Obama Sits Down With Elementary Kids Raw: Bear Falls From Tampa Tree Ousted IRS Chief: Errors Not Caused by Politics Terror Suspect Due in Court in Idaho Friday Raw: Driver Ejected From Truck, Over Bridge Could Tobacco Be the Next Biofuel? Wash. State Releases Draft Rules for Legal Pot Dying Man's Blinks Lead to Murder Conviction Officials: Texas Tornado Likely Had 200 Mph Wind Brothers Arrested in NOLA Parade Shooting
Poll

Are the IRS, Benghazi and AP phone warrant scandals vital issues, or a distraction from more important business the nation should deal with?

Vital
Distraction
     View Results
Featured Ads
Parade
Magazine

Click HERE to read all your Parade favorites including Hollywood Wire, Celebrity interviews and photo galleries, Food recipes and cooking tips, Games and lots more.
Stocks