Dana K. Stahl

Dana Kerrel Stahl, Ponca City resident and formerly of Dallas, died Saturday evening, Nov. 3, 2024, at Creekside Village in Ponca City. She was 81.

The daughter of William Henry and Evelyn Rocille (Gramlich) Stahl, Dana was born Sept. 8, 1943, in Woodward, Okla. At a very early age, she moved with her parents to Nowata, Okla. where they lived through her second year of school. In July 1951 she and her sister and baby brother moved with their parents to Newkirk, and she entered the third grade in Newkirk Elementary School. Dana graduated from Newkirk High School with the class of 1961, and then she entered Oklahoma Baptist University where she earned her Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing. Following graduation from OBU in 1966, she worked one year at Presbyterian Hospital in Oklahoma City. She was one of the nurses to open the ICU in 1967. 

Dana entered the Missionary Journeyman program of the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board. Following training in Bristol, Va., she was assigned to Eku Baptist Hospital and School of Nursing in Eku, Nigeria, West Africa. In addition to teaching in the school of nursing, she supervised various hospital wards and established the hospital dietary kitchen. She also assisted with rural clinics during the Nigerian-Biafrian War. It was said that American planes used the hospital lights to guide them to deliver food and medical supplies to Biafra. Her experiences–often under difficult conditions–was invaluable when she later joined the faculty of the nursing program at El Centro College in Dallas where her students came from quite diverse backgrounds. 

She returned to the United States in 1969 and taught in the Neosho Junior College, Chanute, Kansas for one year and then moved to the Grayson Community College in Sherman Texas. Dana earned a Master of Science in Health Science Instruction with a minor in Nursing degree from Texas Women’s University in Denton, Texas in 1978 and gained doctoral course work from the University of North Texas. In 1974 she began teaching at El Centro College in downtown Dallas and coordinated the opening of a new nursing program at Neosho Community College in Corsicanna, Tex. After three years she returned to Dallas where she remained through her working career. Dana's legacy is the hundreds of nursing students she taught over a more than 45-year career, and the thousands of patients her students served. 

Since 1997 through 2005, Dana served as Parish/Congregational Nurse Educator for El Centro College and served on the Dallas Episcopal Parish/Congregational Nursing Committee for the Diocese of Dallas. 

Dana and a colleague co-authored an innovative textbook for nursing and healthcare students to help them learn to read medical research literature. The textbook, “Reading for Nursing and Allied Health” was published by Houghton-Mifflin Publishing Company. 

While at El Centro she served as Staff Development Director and Director of Institutional Self-Study for three consecutive evaluation processes for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. 

Dana was a member of Church of the Holy Cross and St. James Episcopal Churches in Dallas. Over the years she served as Alter Guild member, Sunday School teacher, organist, Vestry member and Parish Nurse. After moving to Ponca City in 2014, she became a member of St. Mary’s Catholic Church. She enjoyed the weekly Bible study and the community’s friendly outreach within the church. 

While in Ponca City, Dana worked part-time for the Ponca City Area Literacy Council and volunteered as a Friends of the Library board Member. She loved knitting and crocheting. Many of her family and friends were recipients of things she made. She was a voracious reader and loved books so much that she literally had her own very large library. She loved traveling. She was involved in numerous community service projects, both in Dallas and Ponca City. 

She is survived by her sister, Pamela Miller (John) of Newkirk; brother, W. Brent Stahl (Ellen Engstrom) of Edina, Minn.; her nieces, Natalie McBride (Glenn) of Stillwater, Vanessa Miller of Garber, Brent’s stepdaughters, Amy Wood (Mike Maselli) of Summit, NJ and Katie Wood (Ian Silverman) of Acton, MA; six great nephews and nieces; and one great-great niece. 

She was preceded in death by her parents; a sister-in-law, Cathryn Stahl; and one nephew, John Edward Miller, Jr. 

The body will lie in state at Grace Memorial Chapel Tuesday from 8 am until 4 p.m. A Prayer Service will be held at 6 pm Tuesday, in St Mary’s Catholic Church, Ponca City. 

Visitation/reception with the family present will be Wednesday, Nov. 6 in the Newkirk First United Methodist Church from noon until service time. Funeral services have been scheduled for 2 pm Wednesday at the First United Methodist Church, with the Rev. Tom LeGrand, Minister of the First Baptist Church of Garber and good friend of the family, officiating. Interment will follow in the Newkirk Cemetery. Miller-Stahl Funeral Service is in charge of arrangements. 

A memorial fund has been established with the Newkirk Public Library, 116 North Maple, Newkirk, OK 74647.