Blanche Davis Ratliff Welker

BLANCHE DAVIS RATLIFF WELKER was born on September 30, 1910, and passed away on June 11, 2002. She was preceded in death by her beloved husband, Platt Linn Welker. She is survived by her two daughters, Sally Lynn Welker Vernon and Janice Ratliff Welker Schumann, and her granddaughter Stephanie Lynn Schumann. Born the only child of Clifton and Blanche Tenney Ratliff in Oklahoma City, where she attended grade school and high school, she was a graduate of Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri and of the University of Oklahoma where she received a Baccalaureate degree in geology and micro-paleontology. After graduation from college she taught at Taft Junior High School in Oklahoma City. Following a two year courtship, she and Platt Welker were married on June 14, 1934, a union that would last for 66 years, until he passed from this life in February, 2001. During a 33-year career as the wife of an officer in the United States Air Force, Mrs. Welker had the opportunity to live in many different states as well as abroad. Upon retirement from the Air Force in 1963, she and her husband moved to Oklahoma City where, in addition to a career as a real estate agent, she was active in many civic organizations including the Oklahoma Art League, John Starke Chapter of the DAR, the Oklahoma Museum of Art, Floribunda Garden Club, the Book Mark Club, Reviewers Clique Book Club, Women's Committee of Oklahoma, the Symphony Society, NARO, the University of Oklahoma Mother's Association, and Alpha Phi sorority. She and Mr. Welker were long time members of the Oklahoma City Golf and Country Club. Graveside services and interment will be conducted at Arlington National Cemetery. Friends are invited to a visitation with the family on Sunday, June 16, 2002 from 2 until 4 o'clock in the afternoon at Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive, Houston, Texas.