Graveside service for JoAn Watkins will be 10:00 a.m., Saturday, December 28, 2019 at Highland Cemetery with Minister Steven Hill of Sullivan Village Church of Christ officiating.

Arrangements are under the direction of Becker-Rabon Funeral Home.

The family will greet friends from 6-8 p.m. Friday at the funeral home.

JoAn Watkins, 83, Lawton, Oklahoma passed away Saturday, December 21, 2019 in Duncan, Oklahoma. JoAn was born September 24, 1936 in Danville, Illinois to Charles Glen and Thelma Grace (Hankins) Shoemaker. The doctor who delivered her was paid in chickens. She grew up in Alvin and Cheneyville, Illinois during the Great Depression and learned at a very young age the value of hard work. Whenever someone new moved into their small town one of the neighbors would tell them, "If you need someone to clean your house just call JoAn." She and her dad threw newspapers each morning before school. Some days she had to outrun a neighbor's mean dog. She also was a baby sitter and would even pin curl ladies hair on Saturday. Her dad drove her to piano lessons for five years and she played beautifully.

JoAn graduated from John Greer High School in 1954. She went to school with the young man who would later became her husband of 61 years, Max Watkins. Because they were both underage, their mothers had to sign at the court house giving permission for them to marry (Max was 20 and JoAn was 17). They were married July 24, 1954 in Cheneyville, Illinois. Max was in the Air Force and they traveled to Georgia, Arkansas, and Morocco, North Africa. After he left the military, Max was hired by Arkla Gas and they moved to Lawton, Oklahoma in 1966.

JoAn was a woman who loved the Lord and is described in Proverbs 31. She cooked for her family, sewed most of our clothes, kept a clean house, and never complained about anything. She was a member of the 28th and Cornell Church of Christ where she taught an elementary age Bible class and worked as the church's secretary. She also attended Sullivan Village Church of Christ.

She made itty bitty Barbie clothes…some covered in sequins and pearls to give away to Twyla's school's yearly bazaar and to sell around the holidays. Many of these were made with scraps left over from making clothes for her family. JoAn was a simple woman who never did anything great but she could be counted on to visit those who were sick or make a dish for a funeral. She was very soft spoken and so very patient.

Those left behind to cherish her memory include two daughters, Katrina Brennan and husband JD, and Twyla Watkins, three grandchildren, Brent Brennan and wife Desirae, Charlotte Bates and husband Nick, and Blake Brennan and wife Rachel, nine great grandchildren include, Jackson, Ashleigh, Cash, Emma, Mason, Case, Eli, Wesley and Colt, one brother, Jack Shoemaker and wife Linda of Scottsdale, Arizona, and sister, Dixie (Shoemaker) Leemon and Charles of Hoopeston, Illinois, her dogs, Chi Chi, Bumper, and Sweetie who still love animal cookies for treats.

Those who preceded her include her parents, husband, father-in-law and mother-in-law, Chauncey and Helen (Harris) Watkins and brother-in-law, Roy Watkins and a host of aunts/uncles and cousins from her grandparents, Ross and Mary (Viles) Hankins, and paternal grandparents Everett Shoemaker and Minnie.