Charlene Hughes

Bonnie Charlene (Shoemake) Hughes, 71, of Norman, passed away on March 14, 2026, in Norman. The daughter of Charles Edward Shoemake and Zola Fern (Forbes) Shoemake, Charlene was born in Oklahoma City on May 19, 1954. 

Charlene grew up in Blanchard and was a 1972 graduate of Blanchard High School. She lived in Oklahoma City for a while and later in Glenpool and Tulsa, Oklahoma, Belle Plain Kansas, and then Augusta, Georgia before residing in Little Axe, Oklahoma and marrying Jim Hughes on July 5, 1997, after he brought her back from Georgia during their courtship. They wrote letters back and forth before she moved back, and in one of them, Jim signed the card with the number 143. He explained the story of the lighthouse keeper who lost his wife in a shipwreck, and he configured the light of the lighthouse to blink once, then four times, then three times out toward the ocean. The flashing signal stood for “I love you” as a never-ending message of love. The numbers have been a special message between the two of them from that point on. 

Charlene did everything “over the top” including her work career and every other area she touched, from gardening to baking. Charlene was the family baker, and everyone enjoyed her pies and cinnamon rolls. In the early 2000’s, Charlene opened her own travel agency called “TravelbyCharlene”. One of her over-the-top travel endeavors included an OU/Texas Heartland Flyer trip for the OU/Texas game. It included an extra train car with a bar, a live band, a charter bus trip from the depot to the game, and a welcome from the OU Pep Band as the train arrived in Dallas. Her other jobs included the Oklahoma Tax Commission, Jim’s private practice law firm (where she fired him), and The State of Oklahoma Office of Juvenile Affairs where she retired in 2017, as a state Supervisor of Policy and Procedures for the Agency. Charlene’s smile and enthusiasm, maintained throughout her entire life and overcoming so much since the accident in 2018, will be missed by all. 

Charlene is preceded in death by her parents; her two sisters, Cheryl Hooker, and Flo Lemons; and granddaughter, Cadence Marie Gordon.

Charlene is survived by her husband of 28 years, James Louis “Jim” Hughes; daughter, Christina Francis, of Norman, Son and daughter-in-law Don and Christine Burgard, of Clinton; sons, Eric Peters currently of Washington State and Michael Hughes and daughter-in-law Carol Hughes of Texas; six grandchildren, Joshua Christian Ledbetter, Skyler Shoemake Peters, Abbigayl Marie Peters, Avery Hromcik; Abbey Burgard and Anniston Burgard; one great granddaughter, Hazel Hijduk Peters; one sister, Kathryn “Kaye” Barta of Blanchard and numerous nieces and nephews and other family members; and a host of other loved ones and friends.

A memorial service will be held 2:00 P.M., Friday, March 20, 2026, at Pleasant Hill Baptist Church in Blanchard. Arrangements are under the direction of Eisenhour Funeral Home of Blanchard. Online obituary and guestbook are available at www.eisenhourfh.com.