Graveside service for Sylvia Marie DeVilbiss will be 11:00 a.m. Tuesday, April 14, 2026. at Highland Cemetery, Lawton, Oklahoma with Deacon Eric Conrady officiating.

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

Family will greet friends from 1:00 p.m.- 3:00 p.m. on Monday, April 13, 2026, at the funeral home.

Sylvia Marie (Finney) DeVilbiss was born on September 22, 1933, as the second of three daughters of Cecil Gordon Finney and Gladys (Boswell, Finney) Huffhines in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. She passed on Friday, April 3, 2026, in the care of Seasons Assisted Living and Memory Care, Magnolia, Texas.

After her older sister married, and with frequent family separations, Sylvia, at a very young age, took on the role as family caretaker not only for her mother, but also for her younger sisters. She would attend St. Joseph's Catholic HS in Chickasha, OK, graduating as Salutatorian and where she would meet the love of her life, Donald R. DeVilbiss. They married on June 17, 1952, in Chickasha, Oklahoma, and would remain so for 69 years, until Don's passing in 2021.

She was the family foundation throughout Don's military career, especially during his innumerable deployments, both in training and in war. Keeping in character as a caretaker and in the finest traditions of the Military Family, Sylvia left an indelible mark on the young Army wives of soldiers new and old. After Don's 28-year military career, she was there by his side building a farm and raising purebred Limousin cattle.

She devoted herself to his dreams and was proud sharing in their accomplishments. As was her way, Sylvia was Don's loving caretaker during the last 9 months of his life, until his passing in September 2021.

All the while she raised two young men, one of whom would follow in his father's footsteps into the Field Artillery, the other would become a distinguished teacher within the Lawton, Oklahoma, ISD.

Needless to say, Sylvia's greatest passion was as wife to Don and mother to their two sons, while also stressing familial connections with the extended family - fulfilling her role as family caretaker.

She is survived by her eldest son, Melvin Lee (Victoria) of Magnolia, Texas, her three grandchildren, Lisa Marie DeVilbiss of Magnolia, Texas, Christopher Daniel, of Las Vegas, Nevada, and Donald Cody of Lawton, Oklahoma; sisters, Melinda (Finney) Kurtz (Dennis), and Novis Ann Edwards, brother-in-law, Danny Melvin DeVilbiss, and sister-in-law, Patsy Kelly-McHugh, and many nieces and nephews on both sides of the family.

She is predeceased by her husband, youngest son Richard Todd DeVilbiss, parents, an older sister, Lee (Finney) Haver (Jap), a younger sister Anna May (Finney) Conrady (Richard) and stepmother (of 79 years) Gertie (Finney) Jameson.

An online guest book and sympathy cards are available at www.beckerfuneral.com