Funeral service for Jo Ann Lewis Spears will be at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, March 31, at the church she loved, attended, and supported her entire adult life, Centenary United Methodist Church. The service will be officiated by Jo Ann's nephew, Pastor Bill G. Marshall, widely known evangelist and minister of the Riverside Baptist Church, St. Joseph, Missouri.

Burial will follow at the Highland Cemetery under the direction of Becker-Rabon Funeral Home.

The family will greet friends from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday, March 30, 2018, at the funeral home.

Jo Ann Lewis Spears, 81, has succumbed to lingering medical conditions that had debilitated her over the past several years. She died on Wednesday, March 28, 2018 after a valiant but unsuccessful effort by the staff and doctors at Comanche County Memorial Hospital.

Jo Ann was born in Walters, OK, to Marvin and Ruby Turner and spent her early life in the Cookietown area. Attending Walters High School, she graduated in 1954. The following year, she moved to Lawton, began the first job of her civil service career at the Office of Officer Records. In Lawton, she met and married Bill Lewis, a union that bore two children.

During her civil service career, Jo Ann worked at several Fort Sill jobs, including the post public affairs office, Reynolds Army Hospital, and the Post Engineers. Her longest and most loved labor was as a secretary and personal assistant at the Post Signal Office. Shortly after her husband died in 1986, she retired from the federal civil service and spent several years as the tours director for Lawton's Citizens Bank.

Highlights of her life included being the MeMaw to Sherrell and Mark's three wonderful and beautiful children, volunteering for and taking part in Centenary church activities, taking short road trips, and marrying her second husband, Tom Spears. An exciting and proud moment was when granddaughter, Lauren was crowned Miss America, 2007.

She is survived by her spouse, Tom, of the home; her son, Steven Lewis and his wife, Debbie, of Irving, TX; her daughter, Sherrell Nelson and her husband, Mark, of Marlow, granddaughter, Lauren Faram and husband, Randy, of Edmond, great-grandson Mason and great-granddaughter Dawson; granddaughter, Morgan Nelson, of Edmond; grandson, Logan Nelson of Mangum; her sister, Lois Snider of Cyril, and numerous nieces and nephews and their children. Jo Ann shared a special bond with niece, Joyce Haxton of Lawton, as Joyce helped, loved, and cared for "Jody" the last few years of her life.

Jo Ann was preceded in death by her parents, her first husband, Bill Lewis, and two sisters, Mildred Marshall and Norma Jean Gregory.

Memorial contributions may be made to Centenary United Methodist Church, 704 SW D Avenue, Lawton, Oklahoma 73501.