Jenneva Nell Dillard

Jenneva Nell Phelps Dillard, age 89, passed away on Monday, September 29, 2025. She was born in Flagg, Texas on November 16, 1935 to her beloved parents Essie Lee Scitern and Gerald Winston Phelps.

As a child, Jenneva's family was loving and happy. Her father died when she was only five years old after plunging into the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway to save someone that had fallen in. She remembered her father fondly and loved to tell how he would often rock her and sing to her. Her mother was a determined woman who managed to raise five children on her own in a farmhouse with no electricity or running water. Jenneva learned how to work hard, be kind, and enjoy life and family, no matter the material circumstance.

Jenneva attended school at Patton Springs and Roaring Springs in West Texas where she was a popular student. She was a cheerleader and excelled in basketball and music. She was also voted outstanding girl student by the teachers and was later offered a full scholarship to the University of Oklahoma.

She married Bill J. Dillard on September 10, 1951. They started their married life together in Roaring Springs before eventually settling in Mustang, Oklahoma. During their years in Mustang, Bill and Jenneva built a beautiful home, raised four children, planted a church, and launched a successful business. Both the church and the business have grown substantially and continue to thrive in Mustang, going by the names The Bridge Church and Security Solutions. Somehow she also found the time to have a successful career that spanned more than two decades at Western Electric Company (now AT&T). In her retirement, she worked part time at McNeil's Funeral Service in Mustang.

She was an extraordinary woman that built a life full of people who loved her dearly. She understood the importance of cultivating and maintaining relationships and would do small things to make sure the people in her life knew she loved them.

She passed on from this world at home surrounded by family singing old hymns over her and remembering her for her simple but profound kindness, wisdom, and joy.

Jenneva is preceded in death by her parents and four siblings, Van, Herman, and Pat Phelps and Lois Lord; daughter-in-law Connie Dillard; son Jay Dillard; son-in-law Craig Anson; and grandchildren Sherla, Shannon and Travis Dillard.

She is survived by her son Bill and his wife, Ami, Dillard; daughters Toni Anson & Shelley McCarthy; daughter-in-law Louann Dillard; son-in-law Mick McCarthy; Grandchildren Krista and her husband, Aaron, Bruton; Amanda Hogan; Mary and her husband, Chris, Cox; Mark Siems; Colin and his wife, Leslie, Dillard; Ren Wilson; Larissa and her husband, Kyle, Bowker; Emily Anson; Caleb Anson; Jade and her husband, Gavin, Caldwell; and Jenna and her husband, Ryan Anderson; Great-grandchildren Asher Bruton; Daisy and Dax Hogan; Destiny Wilson; Bella Hebert; Raelyn and Kenzye Dillard; Boston and Baron Bowker; Grace, Ethan, and Levi Caldwell; and Ava Anderson.

In lieu of flowers, please make donations to Global Workers, Krista and Aaron Bruton (Jenneva's grandchildren) c/o The Bridge Church, PO Box 207, Mustang, OK 73064