Marian Stoneman

Marian Gayle Stoneman, lifelong area resident of the Ralston and Fairfax communities, passed away Saturday, September 29, 2012 at the Fairfax Manor Nursing Home. She was 64 years of age.

Marian was born January 4, 1948 in Pawnee, Oklahoma. She was the daughter of Elmer and Ruby Martin Rice. She grew up in the Big Bend area west of Ralston, Oklahoma, and was a 1966 graduate of Ralston High School. She went on to attend Central State University and received a degree in Elementary Education. She taught music and 6th grade at Burbank and also taught in the Fairfax School system.

She was married to Fred Earl Stoneman in 1965 with the couple going on to have a boat and Ford dealership in Fairfax. Together they had three children, Stacey, Dusty and Scott. Following a divorce in 1982, she began working for the Oklahoma Department of Human Services. She met and dated Jeff Tucker and they were life partners for over 20 years. Although they had a somewhat bumpy relationship they always seemed to get back together until Jeffs death on November 26, 2006.

Marian was diagnosed with Alzheimers in December of 2005. She always kept an upbeat attitude about her diagnosis despite its questionable future. She managed to find humor in putting toilet paper in the freezer, cutting off the arm of a teddy bear to make it sit up straight, and climbing in the backseat of her car with a dish of mashed potatoes on the roof, while waiting to drive herself to Thanksgiving dinner. In the last years of her life she found great joy in her grandchildren Carson, Kailynn and Ryder. She may not have been able to state her own kids names but when her granddaughter handed her a cup of imaginary tea, she sipped and played along. The saying , when a 2 year old hands you a toy phone you say hello, is true even when Alzheimers has plagued your body. In 2011 she moved to the home of her sister Dawn and Gary Haney, where she was cared for until the last three weeks of her life.


She is survived by her three children, Stacey Stoneman of Vian, Oklahoma, Dusty Stoneman of Cleveland, Oklahoma, and Scott Stoneman and Kassie Fisher of Perry, Oklahoma three grandchildren, Carson Stoneman of Lincoln, California, Kailynn and Ryder Stoneman of Perry, Oklahoma. She is also survived by one brother, Ronnie Rice of Ralston, two sisters, Vickie Cabell and husband Tom, of Tulsa, and Dawn Haney and husband Gary, of Fairfax other numerous nieces, nephews and extended family.

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday, October 2, 2012 at the First Osage Baptist Church in Fairfax with Tom Cabell presiding. Local arrangements are under the direction of the HunsakerWooten Funeral Home of Fairfax.

Memorial contributions may be made to Special Olympics Oklahoma, 6835 South Canton Ave., Tulsa, Oklahoma 74136 or to Alzheimer Research, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, 825 NE 13th Street, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73104.