On Sunday, April 2nd, ETHEL MAE "TEX" TURNER KNOWLAND, at age 91, passed from this earth after a sustained hospitalization.
Tex was born the oldest of three sisters in 1925 in Houston, Texas to parents Lena and James Winborn. She graduated from Vanderbilt University with a degree in chemistry. Tex was a prominent force in the Republican Party in Oklahoma throughout the 1960s and 1970s, meeting four Republican Presidents during her work for the Party. Tex retired from a career in construction and mortgage banking with State Savings and Loan.
Tex is preceded in death by her second husband, Joe Knowland, and her son, Win Turner. She is survived by her sister, Irene Miller, her daughter, LeAnne Burnett and her son, Andy Turner, as well as twelve grandchildren, twenty great grandchildren and one great-great grandchild who all knew her by the grandmotherly name she chose herself - Mimi. "Anything else makes me sound too old," she insisted.
In retirement, Tex was one of the first residents at Montereau, and welcomed new residents with open arms. She was active on Montereau Committees, played bridge regularly, regularly painted French impressionist-style oil paintings (a skill she began at age 80), and worked crossword puzzles daily.
She will be greatly missed.
The memorial service for Tex is Saturday, April 8 at 2:00 pm at the chapel at Montereau, 6800 S Granite Ave, Tulsa, OK 74136.
Moore's Memory Chapel
918-583-6148