Violet McClanahan

Funeral services for Violet McClanahan, 85, of Clinton, will be held at 10 a.m. Monday in the Kiesau Memorial Chapel.
She died Wednesday, April 3, 2019, in her Clinton home. 
Violet (Skaggs) Lyons-McClanahan was born March 23, 1934, to A.E. and Mary Josephine (Smith) Skaggs in Chickasha.
On Dec. 14, 1949, she married Johnie Lyons in Oklahoma City and they were married approximately 20 years.
She later married William F. Allison on July 9, 1969, in Coolidge, Ariz., while she was attending Central State College in Edmond. After her graduation in July of 1970, she then moved to Coolidge. When her marriage ended in divorce, she returned to Oklahoma and worked as a teacher’s aide with Clinton Public Schools. 
On March 17, 1985, she married Olen McClanahan in Shamrock, Texas.
In August of 1985 she obtained a position as special education teacher at Will Rogers Elementary in Burns Flat. 
McClanahan completed a master’s degree in special education at Southwestern Oklahoma State University in May of 1987. In 1992 she transferred to Burns Flat High School, where she was named Teacher of the Year for the 1992-1993 school year. 
McClanahan enjoyed taking her students to Special Olympics at Clinton and Weatherford and to the state tournament in Stillwater. Her students held a special place in her heart and she was able to see all of them graduate from high school. She taught the multi-handicapped class in Burns Flat for 25 years until her retirement in 2010. 
She served as president of her education association for three years, vice president for one year and reporter for four years. She was also a member of the Clinton chapter of AARP for several years, where she held the offices of vice president for four years; president, three years; and music chairman, seven years. 
She loved to travel and had visited all but three states in the U.S.
McClanahan was preceded in death by her husband; her parents; a son, Lloyd Irwin Lyons; a brother, Clarence Albert Marion Skaggs; and three sisters, Rosa Viola Hodge, Patsy Pulis and Bessiemae Mahan.
Survivors include four daughters, Janice Bozarth and Catherine Burnett, both of Chickasha, Cheryl Lynn Ross of Yukon and Jody Elayne McKinnon of Hinton. 
She is also survived by 10 grandchildren, 10 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.
The service will be officiated by Doyle Kinney. Burial will conclude at 2 p.m. at Rose Hill Cemetery in Chickasha under the direction of the Kiesau-Lee Funeral Home.