Draper, Betty Jean
Funeral services for Betty Jean Draper of El Reno are pending with Wilson Funeral Home.

Mrs. Draper died today at her home.

Ellis, Brandon Scott (paid)
Funeral services for Brandon Scott Ellis (Blah Blah) of El Reno will be held at 2 p.m. Friday, June 29, 2007, at Trinity Lutheran Church with Rev. Don Hefta officiating. Burial will be in the Oakland Cemetery northeast of El Reno. Services are under direction of Wilson Funeral Home.

Brandon passed from this earth on Tuesday, June 26, 2007, in El Reno. He was born May 27, 1970, in Oklahoma City. He was a lifetime Canadian County area resident and a 1988 graduate of El Reno High School. He had also attended Redlands Community College before attending and graduating from CLEET Police Academy. He was a former police chief for Union City.

Brandon’s fun-loving personality allowed him to touch many lives in many different ways. He will be loved and missed by many who met him, especially those who came to know and understand him. He was a thrill-seeker who enjoyed anything fast and adventurous without regard to the number of wheels on the ground or the dangers involved.
Mr. Ellis was a wonderful son, brother, cousin and friend. Although he never had children of his own (except for his beloved Shih tzu, Jack), he loved everything about kids and was an amazing uncle who would do anything for his nephews no matter how brief he knew them.
He was preceded in death by his mother, Paula Gay (Powell) Ellis.
Survivors include his father, Alan Ellis of El Reno; a brother, Trevor Ellis and wife, Shawna of Norman; a sister, Jessica Corbin and husband, Chris of Yukon; nephew, Aidan Ellis, and one on the way who will be named Jaxton Scott Corbin; his grandmother, Clara Powell; girlfriend, Janet Vieweg of El Reno; and numerous other relatives and friends.

Brandon’s wishes were in lieu of flowers that memorials in his name be made to a college scholarship fund set up for his nephews at the Yukon National Bank, or to Oklahoma Children’s Hospital.

Fox-Lorenzen, Ramona Ann (paid)
Ramona Ann Fox-Lorenzen, 70, of Warner passed away unexpectedly on Tuesday, May 29, 2007, while visiting family in Phoenix, Ariz.

Born July 1, 1936, in El Reno, Ramona was the daughter of Lillian Lee Graham-Fox-Kight and Conard Fox. Ramona graduated from El Reno High School in 1954 and moved to Buena Vista, Colo., in 1961 where she resided until 1989 when she returned to Warner to care for elderly family.

Mona is survived by her daughter, Lori Lorenzen, and grandson, Trevor Jones of Phoenix.

Graveside services will be held Saturday, July 7, 2007, at 10 a.m. in the Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Buena Vista, followed by a gathering at the small American Legion Hall on North Railroad.

The family would like to extend their sincerest gratitude to the doctors, nurses and staff of both Banner Thunderbird Medical Center and Hospice of Arizona for their compassion, care and support during Mona’s final hours.

Fuchs, Vesta Viola (paid)
Vesta Viola Fuchs was born April 30, 1912, in Calumet, the first child of Ross Amos Bright and Nola Bell Eimen Bright. She died peacefully at her home in El Reno on June 23, 2007.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, Edmund Hugo Fuchs, and her brother, Delbert Bright.

She is survived by her sister and close companion, Bonnie Bell Bright Marquardt of El Reno; her son, Edmund Lee Fuchs and wife, Sharon of San Antonio, Texas; her daughter, Jo Ann Fuchs McNaught and husband, Burrel of El Reno; five grandchildren, Larry Fuchs and wife, Terri of Huntsville, Texas, Denise Fuchs Cox and husband, Guy of Waco, Texas, Doreen Fuchs Coonse and husband, Larry of Pagosa Springs, Colo., Steven McNaught and wife, Nancy of El Reno, and Sally McNaught Kilby and husband, Mike of Oklahoma City; 12 grandchildren and one great-grandson.

Vesta was a member of Wesley United Methodist Church and Order of the Eastern Star where she served as Worthy Matron and later as Mother Adviser to the Rainbow Girls. She was also a member of the VFW Auxiliary and was a regular participant at the Senior Center at Southern Manor. In earlier years she was a member of the Calamity Janes disaster response team, taught Red Cross first aid classes and worked with the Citizens Patrol.

As a child she attended Red Rock School and Red Rock Methodist Church. In the mid-1920s her family moved to El Reno where her father was employed as the caretaker of the El Reno Country Club. She became a member of First Methodist Episcopal Church at Watts and Rock Island, which later evolved into Wesley United Methodist Church.

In early 1931 she met a tall, handsome soldier from Fort Reno at a dance she was attending with her cousin. Years later he said, “I thought she was the cutest little thing I ever saw.” In November of the same year she married Ed Fuchs and soon after they moved to Fort Reno where they lived until 1944.

She was always ready to take their two children and go with Ed whenever and wherever the Army sent them — for a few months to Camp Lockett, Calif., for six months to Boston and two years to Fort Hood, Texas. When the commanding officer at Boston advised Ed that he should not bring his family because there was no housing available, she said, “I don’t care. We’re going anyway,” and started packing the car. When Ed retired from the Army, they returned to El Reno to build their home at 813 S. Duane. In 1962 she took a leave of absence from her job, and she and Ed took a trip around the world, flying mostly “space available” on military planes. They spent about six weeks with their son and his family in Pakistan. Another time they visited their grandson and his wife in Germany and Ed’s nephew and his family in Sicily.

For 27 years they spent about three months each winter in Zapata, Texas, where she developed a reputation as a good fisherman. One evening, Ed went down to the boat docks to secure their boat. A man who was fishing from the dock said that he wasn’t catching anything, but “that little Indian woman from Oklahoma” has just pulled out one after another.

Because of her dark complexion, she was often mistaken as either Hispanic or an American Indian. When she traveled in Mexico, American tourists, speaking slowly and distinctly in English, often asked her for directions.

For 37 years they had a place at Fort Cobb Lake. She was always afraid of the water, but she loved going out in the boat, whether she was fishing or driving the boat. She was expert at pulling skiers and did it for literally hundreds of hours for family and friends.

But nothing mattered to her as much as family. Her parents, Ross and Nola Bright, her sister, Bonnie Marquardt, and her brother, Delbert Bright, all lived within two blocks of each other. And Ed’s large family in the Hill Country of central Texas rapidly became her family. She always wanted to be a part of every family occasion, including the annual reunion, preparing food and recording the names of all the 90 to 100 attendees.

Her Service of Remembrance and Hope was conducted by Dr. Burrel McNaught and Dr. Rick Cato on Tuesday, June 26, at 2 p.m. at Wesley United Methodist Church with interment in the El Reno Cemetery. Services were under direction of Wilson Funeral Home.

Memorial gifts may be made to Wesley United Methodist Church, 101 S. Barker, Russell-Murray Hospice, P.O. Box 1423, or the El Reno Senior Citizens Inc., 317 S. Grand, El Reno, Okla. 73036.

Vieweg, Georgia Viola
Memorial services for Georgia Viola Vieweg of Union City will be held by her family at a later date.

Georgia died Sunday, June 24, 2007, at Parkview Hospital. She was born Nov. 30, 1919, in El Reno. She was a lifetime Canadian County area resident. Mrs. Vieweg was a homemaker and a retired paper hanger. She attended First Baptist Church.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Arthur and Hattie (Wiedman) Cook; brothers, Beryl, Charlie, Howard, Carroll, Vernon and LeRoy Cook; and sisters, Gladys Robbins, Mabel Barcus, Verna Rogers, Ruth Cook, Eleanor Cook and Violet Cook.

She is survived by her daughter, Joyce Lagaly and husband, Leo of Union City; sons, Albert P. Vieweg Jr. and Robert A. Vieweg and wife, Margaret, all of El Reno; stepdaughter, Carol Muhs and husband, Harold of Lake Elsinore, Calif.; sister-in-law, Vonda Cook of El Reno; seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren; and numerous other relatives and friends.