Inurnment and Memorial service for Berna "Billie" Lee Shaver Stroud, 95, Lawton, will be at 9:00 a.m. Friday, December 30, at Fort Sill National Cemetery, Elgin under the direction of Becker Funeral Home & Cremation Service, with the Rev. Montie Jones, Director of Cameron Campus Ministry, officiating. Berna died Tuesday December 27, 2011 in Lawton. Berna was born in Wideman, Izard County, Arkansas on January 14, 1916 to John Shelby and Dora McCollum Shaver. She received nurses training in Little Rock, Arkansas and at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, and was commissioned as a Registered Nurse in the United States Army, serving in North Africa and Italy during World War II. She married Ralph Stroud on November 3, 1946 in Salem, AR. Berna and Ralph had two children, Allen Ralph and Linda Diane. While Ralph served in the United States Air Force, Berna and the children accompanied him to various locations, the highlights for her being assignments in Athens, Greece, and Rome, Italy. During the more than 30 years Berna and Ralph lived in Silver Spring, Maryland, she worked as an obstetrical nurse at several hospitals in the Washington, D.C. area, including George Washington University Hospital, until 1978. She enjoyed the challenges and inspiration of living near the nation's capitol, and was politically active, working for peace, justice and equality issues. Berna believed that "Protest is Patriotic". After her son died in Vietnam in 1970, she began long distance hiking, and joined Washington Women Outdoors. At the age of 65, she completed her longest hike, a five day backpacking trip in the mountains of Colorado. She made this hike two summers in a row with a group of Cameron University students sponsored by Cameron Campus Ministry. After she retired from nursing, Berna took adult education painting classes, and loved painting copies of masterpieces and portraits of her granddaughters. She also shared her musical talents as a pianist and arranger by creating lyrics for musical productions for her three granddaughters, and accompanying their performances at family gatherings. In 2002, she and her husband, Ralph, moved to Lawton to be closer to family. Ralph died March 7, 2008. Survivors include a daughter and son-in-law, Linda and Mark Ashton, Lawton, OK; three granddaughters: Kathryn and husband Steve Carlson, Colorado Springs, CO; Hillary Ashton, Edmond, OK; and Courtney and husband William Swinconos, Oklahoma City, OK; four great-grandchildren: Alexis and Jackson Carlson, Colorado Springs, CO; Ashlyn and Desmond Swinconos, Oklahoma City, OK. She was preceded in death by her parents, a sister, Helen Gilden, a brother, James Shelby Shaver, her husband, Ralph Stroud, and her son, Allen Ralph Stroud. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Family Promise of Lawton, Inc.( PO Box 142, Lawton, OK 73502) or to Promise Care Hospice (4202 W. Lee Blvd., Lawton, OK 73505). An online guest book and sympathy cards are available at www.beckerfuneral.com.