Lillian Frances Deal was born September 21,1932, at home on her family farm in Emmanuel County, Georgia. The youngest child of Simon Green Berry Deal and Mattie Harbuck Deal, she would never have imagined, even in her wildest dreams, what changes she would experience through the course of her long life. Her mother died when Lillian was three years old, and she was mostly brought up by her older sisters and brothers, and by her extended family on neighboring farms. Childhood memories of her fathers fine team of mules, boiling the sugar cane down, and topping the tobacco crop brought her joy throughout her life, and to those with whom she shared her stories. She lived in Norman for over 60 years, and died Sunday morning, April 7, 2024, at the age of 91.

One of Dees earliest memories was standing on a chair to stir the pot of grits her oldest sister, Ina, had going on the wood cookstove in the farmhouse kitchen. Feeding a large family and all the workers and neighbors needed for farm work shaped the course of her life. She grew into a great southern cook who knew everybodys favorites, and a gracious hostess who always cared for her guests and familys preferences far more than she did her own. She even provided a Movable Feast, as she was known for flying to visit loved ones with her special barbequed brisket in her carry-on luggage. Leaving the farm at 18, she moved to Thunderbolt, Georgia, to live with her sister Alice. There she recalled catching washtubs full of blue crabs from the dock, which they would boil and then pick for hours on a picnic table in the yard. Perhaps it is not surprising her first job was at the lunch counter of H. and S. Kress department store in Savannah. She loved the freedom and independence of a paycheck, and loved going to the beach at Tybee Island with her co-workers and friends on Thursdaystheir afternoon off. It was there she was introduced to a handsome young sailor from Oklahoma, Joe T. Reece, Jr. Its hard to imagine she would have any idea what the life of a military wife would bring.

Dee and Joe married in September of 1952 and had their first daughter, Jo Ann, in 1953 while stationed in Shreveport/Bossier City, LA. Duty called again a few years later, and their second daughter Sally, and third daughter, Shari were born in 1957 and 1958 at the military hospital on Ernest Harmon Air Force Base in Stephenville, Newfoundland, Canada. So distant and different from any life she had ever know, Dee didnt think they were speaking English when she first arrived! Her soft, southern accent was probably as strange to the Newfies as theirs to her, and she often told the story laughing that no doubt they found her as foreign as she did them. The family was reassigned to Orlando, Florida before Joe was permanently assigned to Tinker Air Force Base in Midwest City, Oklahoma.

Norman became Dees home, where she had the love and support of her husbands family. Her mother and father-in-law, Maude and Joe T. Reece, affectionally called Mama and Daddy Reece, her brother-in-law, and her sisters-in-law and their families became her family. She was grateful to raise her three daughters with their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins in the much smaller college town that Norman was then.

As her girls grew Dee resumed working outside the home, first as a member of the staff at Sooner City, the Universitys childcare facility on campus. There she was trusted and deeply appreciated for her care of the youngest in the Baby Room, and many parents with an infant in her care became life-long friends, as did her co-workers. When Sooner City closed Dr. Mel Messer asked her to move to the Office of Registration, where she shepherded countless OU students through the enrollment process until her retirement in 1990. The University of Oklahoma was a central element of her life; she loved the beautiful campus, her co-workers, friends, and colleagues, and was a special friend to the School of Music. In later life she often reflected on how much she had grown through her involvement with the incredible diversity of experiences and people during her years of service to the campus community. She was immensely proud to have all three daughters, a grandson, a granddaughter, and two sons-in-law granted degrees from OU. Two of her daughters went on to retire from the University after distinguished and productive careers.

Lillian traveled extensively after retirement, often with dear friends from her working days, including Gretchen Lowsley, Pat Smith, and Connie Bohme. A wonderful gardener, she was the last surviving member of The Ragged Robins, a Norman Garden Club. She is survived by her daughters, Jo Ann Reece, Sally Benfield Suit, and Shari Black; sons-in law, Jim Smith, Glen Black, Richard Benfield, and Chris Suit. The lights of her life were her three grandchildren, Jessica Smith, Elizabeth Devaney, and David Benfield, and she was grateful for their loving spouses, Diana Smith and Patrick Devaney. She is Aunt Lillian to her many family members in Georgia, who loved her deeply and cherish their happy memories of times spent with her, especially the many years of family reunions at the home of her dear niece and childhood companion, Arlene Carr.

Dee was predeceased by her husband, parents, siblings, and many friends. Her long and fruitful life ended in the early morning, after a good rain, and in the capable and tender care of the staff of Brookdale Assisted Living. The family is so grateful for the friendship and tender mercies shown to her by the caregivers at Brookdale and Traditions Hospice, and to us, every day while we shared Dees company. We also wish to thank Peter Keupen, PA, Mercy Primary Care, a patient and compassionate practitioner.

The family will share time together on a fine, spring day to celebrate the gift of her life, in a freshly mown backyard in Norman, just as she would have wished. Ashes will be interred at IOOF Cemetery at a future date.