Ramona Karliene Spradlin

A memorial service for Ramona Karliene Spradlin, age 89, will be held at 10:00 am on Tuesday, August 1, 2023, at the First Baptist Church in Ardmore, OK.  A graveside service will follow at 2:00 pm at Fairlawn Cemetery in Chickasha, OK under the direction of McRay Funeral Home.

Ramona Karliene Spradlin was born in Anadarko, Oklahoma to Karl Marx Abshier and Myrtle Clara (Mashore) Abshier on June 16, 1934.  She entered her heavenly home on July 28, 2023.  Karliene, as she was known to family and friends, married   Clarence A. "Pete" Spradlin in April of 1951.  While Pete was still in the Navy, their first daughter was born.  Upon his discharge from the Navy the family moved to Bethany where their second daughter was born and the family was complete.  They eventually moved to Ft. Worth where he attended Southwest Baptist Theological Seminary.  Karliene worked at the switchboard part time and was a busy homemaker the rest of the time.  Karliene found her ministry in the preschool departments wherever Pete pastored.  When the family moved to Cheyenne, Wyoming, Karliene continued her ministry with the little ones.  She received training in preschool ministry at Glorieta Baptist Conference Center and went back the next few years to train new workers.  Karliene traveled with other workers in the Northern Plains Baptist Convention (Wyoming, Montana, and North and South Dakota) leading preschool conferences.  With her oldest daughter in college and her youngest daughter about to graduate from high school, Karliene decided it was time to get her GED and fulfill a lifelong dream to become a nurse.  Pete and Karliene moved to Chickasha where Pete pastored at College Heights Baptist Church and Karliene continued her preschool ministry.  She found time to attend Vocational-Technical School in El Reno to become an LPN.  She worked at the hospital and then as an allergy nurse in Chickasha.  She loved being a nurse.  Putting her budgeting skills to good use, Karliene put every dollar she made toward the land and later the house they built together that would be their home for many years.  Karliene was proud of their home and every year hosted a dinner for the church deacons and their wives at Christmas time.  Through the years she hosted evangelists, friends, and family.  Karliene planned wonderful vacations for her family as they visited many National Parks.  She also loved Christmas and the music that went with the holiday.  Karliene is preceded in death by many precious loved ones, including Pete in 2010.   She is survived by her brother Elmer (Sonny) and his wife Irene, Anadarko; brother-in-law Jesse Cook, Ardmore; and sister-in-law Mary Shafer,  Shorewood, IL; daughters Connie (Rich) Mattingly from Mt. Gilead, Ohio; Brenda (Richard) Jagger, Ardmore, Oklahoma; grandchildren Cameron (Sarah) Hansen, Colin (Katie) Hansen, Elizabeth (Jason) Williams, Rebecca (Aaron) Hall; great grandchildren Ian, Kaylee, Gabriel, Ellee, Tristan, Seth, Mika, Judah, Emma, Brody, Marie, and Scarlett.  She will be missed.