Wanda Sanders Queenan
Funeral services for Wanda Sanders Queenan, 91, Clinton resident, will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints, officiated by Bishop Dan Turner. Burial will follow in the Elk City Cemetery, under the direction of Kiesau-Lee Funeral Home in Clinton.
Mrs. Queenan died Saturday, Aug. 23, 2014, in Clinton. She was born Aug. 30, 1922 in Cherokee, the daughter of Cyrus B. and Florence Mae (Tharp) Sanders.
Wanda was the fifth daughter in a family of seven girls. Her family moved frequently. Following her birth in Cherokee, the family lived in such places as Hext, Ocina and Willow, among others.
During the 1930’s Cyrus moved his wife and four youngest daughters to Arkansas. While living there the family was contacted by missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints.
After having been converted to the faith, Cyrus and his three daughters were baptized.
Mrs. Queenan moved next to Carter, graduating from high school there in 1942. It would be later that same year that she met and married Maurice “Reese” Grattan Queenan while working as a waitress at Bill’s Lunchroom in Elk City
The young couple made their home in Elk City. Around 1946 they built Queenan’s Indian Trading Post west of town on Route 66.
Her husband preceded her in death on Aug. 25, 1962.
She continued to run the store. In 1979, she took a job at the Old Town Museum and later moved to the museum working full time until she became ill and resigned from her position at the age of 91.
Survivors include daughters, Tonia Turner and her husband Dan and Sandra Wright and the late Andrew Wright, all of Clinton; a granddaughter, Jordan Mosby of Cordell; grandsons, Jason Turner of Elk City and Christian Wright of Weatherford; a nephew, Bill Burk and his wife, Elaine, of Elk City; three great grandchildren, Joey, Gunner and Bridgette Mosby of Cordell; and a host of nieces and nephews.
Also preceding her in death were her parents, Cyrus and Florence Sanders; her sisters, Agnes Watson, Euretha Watson, Vona Love, Grace Sanders, Guinevere Gardner and Peggy Burk; and each of their respective husbands.