Oneice Johns

Memorial service for Oneice Johns, 85, of Lawton, Oklahoma, will be at 2:00 p.m., Sunday, March 13, 2011, at Lawton Ritter Gray Funeral Home Chapel, with Randy Nease officiating. Oneice Johns passed away on Sunday, March 6, 2011, in Lawton, Oklahoma. She was born Grace Oneice Gayle, on 1 September 1925 near Marlow, Oklahoma, youngest child and only daughter of John Roscoe Gayle, Sr. and Rosie Mae Owens Gayle. She attended school and graduated Valedictorian of the 1942 Class at Central High School. She attended Cameron Junior College. During the years of WWII, she began her career as professional educator. At 17 years of age, she was granted an Emergency Teaching Certificate and taught school at Rock Creek School in Stephens County. She married Harry David Smith on 24 February 1945 in Duncan, Oklahoma. Together they had five children: Jo Ann, Sharel Sue, Jessie May, Wade Lee and Hal David. That marriage ended in divorce in 1996. She returned to college and graduated from Oklahoma College for Women with a degree in Elementary Education in 1960. She later earned a Master's Degree in Education from Southwestern State University. She taught elementary school at Central High Public School and with the Lawton Public Schools. She retired in 1990 as a Kindergarten teacher at Sullivan Village Elementary School. She also volunteered with Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), the Visitor's Center Wichita Wildlife Refuge, and as an adult literacy teacher. She was a member of Daughters of the American Revolution, Lawton Chapter, and United States Daughters of 1812, Jacob White David Chapter. She married Clarence G. Johns, 27 August 1998, and they lived in Lawton, OK. Clarence died 8 April 2003. Oneice is survived by her three children: Sharel Sue McAdoo and her husband Dennis of east Comanche County, Wade Lee Smith of Chicago, IL, and Hal David Smith of Elgin, OK; her grandchildren: Kimberly McAdoo Sholtis and her husband Tadd of Lorton, Virginia, Clayton Reed Smith and his wife Taylor of Kansas City, Kansas, Lyndsey Jordan Smith of Chicago, Illinois, Kathryn Paige Smith of Stillwater, OK; her great-grandchildren: Elizabeth Alden Sholtis and Michael Tyler Sholtis, both of Lorton, Virginia; and her brother, John Roscoe Gayle, Jr. of Nevada City, California. She was preceded in death by her two daughters, Jo Ann Smith and Jessie May Smith; her grandson, Logan Warner Smith; her parents; and her second husband, Clarence Johns. Memorial contributions may be made to: Central High Public School for the Library Fund, Rt. 3 Box 249, Marlow, OK 73055. An online guestbook and sympathy cards are available at GrayFuneral.com