Dear Mom,

Mr. Farris passed away this week. Barry used to see him riding around Noble. He was quite a character. Di Petross called me tonight to tell me the same news that Mike passed away. He was 66. She has no family now except for her half-sister Peggy and half-brother, Ronnie. She never had chiildren. Heaven is filling up with old friends and relatives. One day I will be there. My very god friend, and constant confidante, Samantha passed away January 8 unexpectedly. After Barry passed away, she was a great comfort to me. Miss you mom. I am very tired and can you please tell God any time now. Love you. 

February 10, 2016

I thought about all the people I have lost most of the day. I am having such a hard time, Mom. I thought today I wish I had been more patient with you. Much of what I am going through, you went through too.  I thought we had more time. That seems to be a recurring thought in this part of my life and what a mistake. I ordered special remembrances today for Pat and Barry. Pat and I were close in life, but we did not talk much after he married Carol and thought I loved him so much, I was not as close to him as I was to Barry. For all these years since you passed, Barry was my comfort and my steadfast friend and companion. We talked every day, sometimes many times a day. A few weeks before he went in the hospital, he asked me to come and stay with him, finally after I had offered for all these years. I was so very happy.  My comfort is that he is with all of you now and you are all young again and happy and at peace and with all the love God can shower on you.  I look forward to seeing you again more than anything. If love could have saved you, you would have all lived forever, but you do live on always in my heart.  Love you mom. Please kiss everyone for me.

Dear Mom,

Barry passed away January 19, 2015 at the VA Hospital in Oklahoma City. I think he was much sicker than he let on. He was very brave right up to the end and he was strong, like we were taught to be.  He told me he saw and talked to Pat before he passed away. I tried to make it in time but I did not make it. I saw him in his room and he looked at peace, no more pain at last. I miss you all so much.  We had a celebration of life for him and a lot of people came. I wanted him to know he was remembered well by many people. Pray for us here, mom. I am having a really hard time.  I miss all of you so much.

My mother was born to William Ernest Rogers and Florence Marshall Rogers on March 30, 1926 in Ketchum, Oklahoma.  She was the youngest of 3 sisters, the oldest being Louise and the next oldest being Ola Rogers. When my mother was 2, her father died of TB at a very young age and her mother was forced to place her 3 girls with family for 10 years while she worked to support herself. My mother was placed with her Aunt Blanche, a wonderful and loving woman, who had no children of her own and who, for the rest of her life, considered my mother her own. My mother met my father, Verl Glen Coons, in 1946 in Kansas City. She was in a club with friends and she jokingly told her friends that the next man who walked in the door, she was going to marry. That man was my very handsome father.  They did ineed marry on April 4, 1946. My father was a career Army man and for well over 20 years, the Army was their and our home. They would have 5 children, from oldest to youngest, Glenda Lea Coons (born in CA), Roger Brooks Coons (born in KS), Barry Lynn Coons (born in Osaka, Japan), Patrick Alan Coons (born in Missouri), and Jerry Lynn Coons (born in Oklahoma).  We had a wonderful life of travel, and eventually settled in Oklahoma for the longest stint in one place. I was privileged to live in a small quaint town of Noble, Oklahoma, where my brother, Barry, still resides. My mother was a wonderful cook.  She and my father had a devoted and loving marriage until my father's death in January of 1990. My mother had a beautiful singing voice and often sang while she worked or cooked. Mom had a great sense of humor and she loved a good joke. Barry and I often called her with a good joke we heard and she would laugh and laugh. It was a beautiful sound.  We loved her very much and miss her every day. Barry often says my mom was his best friend. She was mine too. I loved buying my mom gifts because she was such a wonderful gift receiver. She appreciated every little thing anyone did for her. As you can see from her pictures, she was a beautiful lady.  We miss you mom!