Annette Dolph

It is with great sadness that our family announces the death of Annette B. Dolph of Choctaw, beloved wife, mother, sister, aunt and teacher, who passed away on Sunday, January 4, 2026.

Annette Dolph was born on March 22, 1937 in McVeigh, Kentucky, to Andrew and Dorothy Ball. After her father's passing in 1949, her mother, our MeMaw, moved her five daughters, ages 1 to 15 at the time, to St. Petersburg, Florida, where Annette would graduate from Boco Ciera High School in 1954.

It was during her Freshman year at St. Petersburg Jr. College that Annette met the love of her life, and future husband, Donald Allen Dolph. Don found his way into her heart by helping Annette light her bunsen burner in chemistry class, igniting a romance that lasted for more than seventy years. That bunsen burner now has a place of honor in family lore.

Annette and Don married on August 11, 1956, in St. Petersburg. In 1960 they began an eight year odyssey with their growing family, moving first to Oklahoma City, then on to Phoenix, Arizona, Roswell and Albuquerque, New Mexico and eventually back to Oklahoma, where in 1968 they settled in Midwest City. They would spend the rest of their lives in eastern Oklahoma County.

After raising her four children, born between 1958 and 1963, and seeing them off to school, Annette resumed her college education at the University of Central Oklahoma where she earned her Bachelor of Arts in Education in 1972. She quickly found what turned out to be her true calling in life - after her family! - as a teacher at Del Crest Jr. High School. Annette loved teaching and deeply cared for all the students who entered her classrooms. Upon retiring in May, 1995, she began volunteering at The Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. Her service as a Docent and Greeter at the museum offered her the opportunity to continue her love of teaching by sharing her knowledge of American history with guests from around the world.

Annette especially loved spending time with her seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, attending as many of their activities as possible. Annette and Don also loved to travel, first with a carload of their own children and later in "retirement." Always side-by-side, they motored across the United States from the Atlantic to the Pacific as well as the Eastern and Western provinces of Canada.

Annette was preceded in death by her parents, an infant brother William and toddler sister Abigail, her sister Judy, and her son-in-law, Mark Findley. She is survived by her husband Don of 69 years and their four children: Mark and wife Lisa of Tulsa, OK; Andy and wife Gina of Parker, CO; Jill and husband Troy Wolzen of Prague, OK; and Amy Findley of Choctaw, OK. She is also survived by her seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren as well as her sisters Louella Jenkins, Emile Martin and Sally Babbit. All deeply miss her presence in their lives.

Annette's family will host a Celebration of Life at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 21, at Barnes, Friederich and Pope Funeral Home, 1820 S. Douglas Blvd. in Midwest City. All those who knew Mrs. Dolph - her friends, her teaching colleagues and her many, many students at Del Crest Jr. High, as well as her fellow Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum volunteers - are all encouraged to join us in celebrating a life well-lived