
Wanda Rochelle
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Wanda Jean Rochelle was born September 15, 1935 in Hopkins, Missouri to Harold and Eula Crane. She graduated in 1952 from Salt Lake City High School and later graduated from Cameron University. After 2 weeks of serious dating, she eloped to Elko, Nevada and married airman Gene Rochelle after meeting him at the Salt Lake City Church of Christ.
Gene, then a teacher and coach, eventually moved Wanda to Lawton, Oklahoma where they raised their four children. After the death of a husband of a housewife and close friend, she became determined and went to college, graduating in 1971. She taught fourth and fifth grades at Country Heights and West Wood Elementary.
Wanda later owned and operated Spring Crest Draperies and purchased several commercial properties. She was a lifetime member of the Church of Christ and attended the Western Hills Church in Lawton until later, moving to Lake Texoma in 1996. She was also active as a Sunday school teacher, girl scout leader and loved to write short stories. Her needle point sewing is loved by her family.
Wanda Rochelle passed away peacefully on April 8, 2023 at her daughter's home in Ada after suffering from congestive heart failure. Her last meal was her favorite, a Braums hot fudge sundae. Prior to bed that night, she exclaimed, "They are calling for me, a sea of people are calling my name."
Mrs. Rochelle is survived by her three children, Tina and husband Rick Cooper, of Ada; Reba Rochelle; Robin and wife Tammy Rochelle of Apache, Oklahoma; grandchildren Rachel Proper, Misty Walker, Joanna Cronemiller; Ian and Jane Cooper; Jack Botkin, and Chaondra, Dakota and Trenton Rochelle. Mrs. Rochelle is further survived by eight great-grandchildren and two sisters, Evelyn Corbin of OKC and Ruth Bishop of Stewartville, Missouri.
She is preceded in death by her husband Gene; a daughter Kathy Cronemiller of Midwest City; and an infant Perry Rochelle.
