Funeral service for Elfriede Reed will be at 2:00 p.m. Wednesday, October 9, 2024 in the Becker-Rabon Funeral Home Chapel with Kirk Givens, Pastor of Care of Dayspring Community Church of Lawton, Oklahoma officiating.

Elfriede Reed, 84, of Lawton, Oklahoma, passed away on Wednesday, October 2, 2024, in Oklahoma City. She was born April 8, 1940, in Seewiesen, Germany, to Richard and Franziska (Hilgarth) Lehrach. Elfriede first married Nelson Humphrey in Arkansas, and they shared their life together until his passing in 1983. In 1990, she married Ralph Allen Reed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and they enjoyed many years of companionship until Ralph's passing in 2018.

Elfriede was a dedicated and long-time manager at Braum's Ice Cream and Dairy in Lawton, where she worked for many years until her retirement. She found great joy in mentoring and working with young people, building lasting relationships with those she encountered. Elfriede will be remembered for her warmth and kindness. Elfriede had a true green thumb and took great pride in her plants. She also had a big heart for animals, especially for the dogs she rescued from the countryside where she lived on 12 acres. Among her favorites were Molly, Charley, Chicken, and Blue. Elfriede had a love for auctions and a passion for restoring antiques. One of her favorite finds was an old Christopher Columbus piano that she bought for just $10. While restoring it, she discovered the skeleton of a mouse inside—and kept it for years as a quirky reminder.

At 79, Elfriede, along with her sister Elsa (then 77), hiked up Mt. Scott—a feat she often talked about repeating, even after being diagnosed with cancer. She was a woman of determination, dreaming of getting a motorcycle and never letting anything hold her back. Above all, she wanted her children to make their own choices, be happy, and live life to the fullest. Though she always encouraged their independence, like any mother, she couldn't help but offer guidance along the way.

Elfriede is survived by her three children, Tom (Laurie) Humphrey, Nelson (Lisa) Humphrey, and Pamela Humphrey-Lehrach, grandchildren, Luke, Matthew, Stacy, Georgia, Travis, Kaitlyn, Kayla and Jackson, great grandchildren, Aiden, Rhys, Ryan, Adrian, Lorena, and Mya, siblings, Elsa, Inge, and Peter, and other family members including her beloved Dachshund Tootsie, aka, Pussy Cat, who spent every moment with her.

She was preceded in death by her first husband, Nelson Humphrey and her second husband, Ralph Reed.