Darlene Reed

Darlene Ruth Reed, 87 passed away on January 5, 2023.

On Monday, January 9th, 2023, at 11:00 AM a funeral mass will be held in her honor at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, 707 East Ponca Ave.,  Ponca City, Oklahoma, 74601.

Darlene was born in Blackwell Oklahoma on September 7, 1935.  Her parents, Harry and Eunice Schmitt, established their family home on a farm six miles east of Newkirk Oklahoma.  Darlene grew up on the family farm with her surviving sister, Virginia Rose (Rosie) Miller and her two brothers Harry Jr. and Richard, who predeceased her.

Darlene attended Newkirk High School, and later graduated from St. Joseph’s School of Nursing in Ponca City with an RN.  While there, she met the love of her life Joseph Reed, a soldier in the United States Army.  On June 10, 1955 “Doll” and Joe were married in Enid at Vance Air Force Base and began their life together. Darlene’s husband Joe passed away in February of 1992. Darlene has always been a humble, selfless  person dedicated to serving her family, friends, and others.  She was the best mom in the world to her two children Mike and Maria.  She was a devoted and loving wife to her husband Joe for 37 years.  She adored her grandchildren Kelly, Molly, Joe and Jackson, and her great grandchildren, Avery, Ella, Reed, and J.J. As a nurse, Darlene cared for sick and hospice patients in their home.  She often continued to feed and provide for them long after their insurance benefits had ended.  Darlene prepared and delivered meals to shut-in’s and the elderly as well as those in nursing facilities, who just needed a friend that cared.  She loved to serve as a volunteer at the McCord Senior Citizen Center.  She especially loved to create wreaths that they used for fund raising to place on gravesites on Memorial Day. Darlene and Joe raised their two kids in Edmond, and they later moved to Dallas Texas until 1992 when her husband passed away.  She lived near her daughter in Houston until moving back to Ponca in 2003.

She loved to travel with tour groups around the United States and met many new friends along the way.  Genealogy was a passion of hers and she especially loved spending time with her children and grandchildren above all else.