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Bible verse of the day
Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.
—Micah 7:18 NIV
Louis Brewer
Louis Brewer Jr., 81, of Poteau was born Oct. 26, 1942 in Hatton, Arkansas to Alice (Carter) Barnes and Louis Brewer Sr. and passed away Feb. 6, 2024 in Poteau.
Cremation is under the direction of Evans and Miller Funeral Home of Poteau.
Survivors include her daughter, Bonnie Brewer-Dyer; grandchildren; great granddaughters; great great granddaughts; a sister, Rossetta Barnes Keifer Lang and wife Tracey, Kelsey Dyer and Dakota Carrey.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Betty Brewer; son, Louis Smith; grandchild, Dusty Carrey; sister, Sue Cole; and brother, Walter Barnes.
You may leave an online message at www.evansandmillerfuneralhome.com.
Kevin Ridenour
Kevin Ridenour, 56, of Spiro was born June 17, 1967 in Fort Smith, Arkansas to Margaret Ann Shoopman and Gary William Ridenour and passed away on Feb. 2, 2024 in Spiro.
Kevin was preceded in death by his father Gary William Ridenour and brother Anthony Ridenour.
Survivors include his mother: Margaret Ridenour; daughters Jamie Rowland and husband Terry, and Brittany Strickland and husband IIan.;brother: Gary Wayne Ridenour and wife Lagina; grandchildren Madilynn, Preston, Shyla, Jaxlee and Elliot.
Kevin also leaves behind his beloved friend Johnnie Francis and a host of nieces and nephews.
The family will hold a memorial service at a later date. Cremation is under the direction of Mallory-Martin Funeral Home of Spiro. You may leave an online message at www.mallorymartinfuneralhomespiro.com.
Ken Milam
Viewing for Kenneth Milam, 70, of Poteau is 3-6 p.m. Saturday at Evans Chapel of Memories in Poteau.
He was a lifelong Oklahoman and member of the Choctaw Nation, was undeniably known by friends and family as an honest and humble man, a friendly and gentle soul who never took more than he gave. He was a remarkable writer and photographer, as evidenced by his five decades in the field of journalism. A passionate guitarist and composer of several blues songs, he co-founded a band named Crystal Image in the late 60's which performed across the state as well as a Tulsa TV show called "Dance Party."
Born to Cecil Milam and Latisha Overstreet in 1953, he displayed his intelligence and interest in nature during elementary school by winning a state science fair with his entomological study of moths and butterflies. He later attended Northeastern State University, where he attained his Bachelor's Degree in journalism. During this time he was the editor in chief of The Northeastern, the student newspaper at NSU, as well as a member of the Pi Delta Epsilon journalistic honor fraternity.
He started his writing career at the Muskogee Phoenix in the late 70's, and then wrote for the Tulsa World throughout most of the 80's. After that he did off and on writing for the Poteau Daily News all the way up until he retired, filling the gaps with freelance writing for a variety of news outlets over the years. He made a substantial contribution to the American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin during his last decade of professional writing.
While attending NSU he met his first wife, Cathy McElroy, whom he married in 1976 and with her fathered two children, his son Adam (1983) and daughter Kendal (1985). Kendal gave him his first two grandchildren, Jason (2015) and Ava (2017), and is currently carrying a third child, due this year. In 1992 he met his second wife, Tina Malinowski. They married in 1997 and together had two more sons, Eli (1999) and Ian (2001).
Cremation is under the direction of Evans & Miller Funeral Home of Poteau.
You may leave an online message at www.evansandmillerfuneralhome.comp
Garland Watts
Garland Joseph Watts, Sr. of Heavener was born Nov. 13, 1939 in Andrews, Texas to Arthur and Ruby (Putnam) Watts and passed away Jan. 29, 2024 in Heavener at the age of 84.
Garland was a longtime resident of the area, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, and a retired Defense Auditor for the Defense Contract Audit Agency. He was a member, a deacon and a Sunday school teacher for Faith Baptist Church. Garland loved telling jokes. He dearly loved spending time with his family and friends. Garland will be deeply missed by many whom loved and knew him. He was a loving father, brother, uncle, grandfather, great-grandfather, cousin, and friend.
Graveside service was 2 p.m. Friday at Springhill Cemetery Pavilion in Howe with Brother David Hardin officiating. Military honors will be provided by Poteau D.A.V. Chapter #63. Burial followed under the direction of Dowden-Roberts Funeral Home of Heavener.
He is survived by three sons Joey Watts and wife Rochelle of the Hontubby community, Timothy Watts and wife Stephanie of Howe, and Stephen Watts and wife Ramona of Fanshawe; one daughter April Terry and husband Bobby of Fayetteville, Arkansas; 11 grandchildren:
Clint Watts, April Keller, Jolee Carter, Derrek Williams, Erin Watts, Jake Watts, Jon Watts, Andrew Alexander, Sarai Roop, Kimberly Terry and Lacie Terry; 22 great-grandchildren
Maddisyn Roop, Christopher Brown, Jensen Shipman, Sooner Williams, Grace Williams, Chloe Crane, Mia Crane, Dominick Crane, Charlotte Watts, Olivia Watts, Theodore Watts, Zack Watts, Annie Watts, Gracie Watts, Ben Watts, Christa Keller, Cambri Keller, Annslee Keller, Harlan Shrock, Azlan Shrock, Kylen Keller and Dexter Carter; numerous nieces, nephews, other loved ones, and a host of friends.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Arthur, Sr. and Ruby Watts; and his wife, Linda Watts.
Pallbearers will be his family members
To sign Garland’s online guestbook please visit www.dowdenrobertsfuneralhome.com.
Blast from the past
This old house
By CRAIG HALL
This old house is the story of an old house on Heavener’s west side.
It is probably over 100 years old and it has been remodeled many times over the years, and came close to burning this year when the cord coming from our swimming pool to an outside outlet caught on fire, but that is for another story at another time.
Hall about it
The most interesting thing is Trish the Wife and I live in the same house where I lived in through high school and college. My parents bought the house in 1963, a month before I brightened the world.
It is a big house, one way too big for Trish the wife and me. It is two-story and a bunch of square feet, well over 2,000 feet. This old house became our old house for us when my mother passed away in 2017.
I could not county the number of games we played in this backyard. Football, basketball, baseball took the top sports but kickball was in there and much more.
Both of us have lived in different houses over the years. After marrying in 2010, we lived in a house in Poteau. We moved to Heavener in 2014 and lived in a small building outside. It was tiny, housing the two of us and Khloe the granddaughter for a while. I loved it, even though it did not have a shower, washer and dryer or stove.
My mother was practically a hoarder as we constantly find little notes that we wrote saying we were going to the store or over to a friend’s house. I was surprised they had been kept all these years and we trash notes.
My father, who passed away in 2008, hoarded photos and photography equipment. He has tons of picture from OU football games, Heavener sports and activities, plus outdoor scenic and wildlife photos.
I consider myself a pretty good photographer. My father was a much better photographer and he used a camera which shot film and wasn’t nearly advanced as mine. He never had a digital camera, but I do. Maybe I can catch up, but I truly doubt it.
We pretty much live in the bottom story of the house. It is nice. Trish would like to do some remodeling and I do agree we need to get rid of the off-white carpet in three downstairs rooms. My mother made a lot of good choices, putting in this color of carpet which shows every stain I make, was not one of them. We need wooden floors and that is on our someday list.
The upstairs is where my brother, Brian, and I had our bedrooms. Some of our junk is still there and needs to be trashed, along with many other items. The upstairs is primarily used for storage and is still living in the 1970s with ugly multi-color shag carpet. Trish is slowly selling off items we don’t need and there are a bunch of them.
She posts most of them on Facebook. Inevitably, she will post something and a few minutes later will get a message asking if this item is still available. Trish goes with the yes answer. If it was me, I would say do you see the item listed? Then it is for sale. Then somebody tries to get us to sell the item for a lot less than it is listed for. Again, Trish handles this much better. I would probably tell them what they could do with their bid
We have a whole lot of stuff we need to get rid of, and a lot of it is really good.
Sadly, this old house is way to big for just the two of us and as soon as possible, we will have to sell sell it and get a smaller one. But I will never shake the memories, the good and bad. I was with both parents when we left this old house for the last time. I suspected that was the case for my father, but not my mother, which came anyway.
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