Wanda Mae Hayes

Wanda Mae Hayes of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, passed away from this life on September 25, 2022, at the age of 88. Wanda was born in Mount Judy, Arkansas, on September 16, 1934, the daughter of John Thomas Cindle and Dessie Ethel (Swearengin) Cindle. She was a talented athlete in her youth, playing basketball and softball for Checotah High School in Checotah, Oklahoma.
Wanda remained active and independent her whole life. She enjoyed traveling and taking cruises, going camping, especially at Lake Eufaula, and she loved fishing, particularly night fishing for sand bass. She was an active member of the Calvary Baptist Church in Newcastle, Oklahoma, and enjoyed attending services and visiting with the friends she made there. She was also a lifelong advocate for justice, especially victims of violent crime, keeping up with many of the unsolved cases in the state of Oklahoma and staying in direct contact with law enforcement officials across the state to assist in getting these cases solved. She also enjoyed researching her family's genealogy and it was Wanda who lovingly and singlehandedly maintained all her family's gravesites and burial plots.
Above all, her greatest love in life was reserved for her family, especially her grandchildren, who were her entire world. She was a wonderful mother and grandmother who was always there cheering proudly at the kids' sporting events and school functions while they were growing up. Wanda loved making treats for her family, and by all accounts, she made the best pancakes in the entire world. She enjoyed spending time with her sister, and the pair loved picking pecans at their brother's house and using them to make delicious desserts to share. Wanda's devotion to her family and to the causes she believed in was an inspiration to many, and she will be deeply missed by all those who knew and loved her.
Wanda is preceded in death by her parents, John and Dessie Cindle; her first husband of 42 years, Robert Vester Waller, and her second husband of 16 years, Barto Monroe Hayes; two grandchildren, Robert Allen Waller Jr., and Ashley Ross Shinn; one sister, Mary Ruth, and one brother, Rueben Cindle.
Left to cherish her memory are her children, Robert Allen Waller and wife Sally, Deborah Lynn Shinn, and Van Lee Waller; four grandchildren, Clayton Carl Waller, Alisha Lynn Shinn, Natalie Nicole Waller, and Angela Waller Briggs, and several great-grandchildren; one sister, Mildred Juanita Eaton, and two brothers, Bill Cindle and wife, Pat, and Richard Cindle and wife, Trish, along with many other loving family members and dear friends.
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