Jane Carolyn Dowdy

Jane Carolyn Lawley Dowdy was born on January 16, 1943 in a log cabin in the Cookson Hills near Tahlequah, Oklahoma. She was the daughter of Bryan and Garnet (Wade) Lawley of Cookson. Carolyn received her education in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, graduating from Tahlequah High School with the Class of 1961. She continued her education by attending Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, receiving her degree in Elementary Education in 1965, a Master's of Education Degree in 1970, and later, a Reading Specialist's Certification through Oklahoma State University. While a senior in high school, she began working at Felt's Family Shoe Store in Tahlequah, saving up money to purchase her first car. It also lead to her life-long love affair with purchasing shoes! It was while she was attending Northeastern State and working as a waitress in a small diner in Tahlequah, that she first met the love of her life in another NSU student by the name of Bob Dowdy, who was from Bristow, Oklahoma. Bob was attending college after serving as a veteran in the United States Marine Corps during the Korean War. They met when he was a customer in the diner and were married on August 4, 1962, in Tahlequah, and remained not only husband and wife but also best friends for forty-nine years and six months. The couple began their married life by moving to the Navajo Indian Reservation in Tohatchi, New Mexico, where Bob became a social studies teacher, then eventually an administrator at Tohatchi, which was a part of the Gallup-McKinley County School System. She enjoyed the desert beauty of New Mexico, but always longed to see the green grass and the many trees that were a part of her beloved native Northeastern Oklahoma. After completing her degree, Carolyn began her teaching career in Tohatchi in 1966 as an elementary teacher, teaching first grade. After moving to Cleveland, Oklahoma in 1973, she taught first grade for many years until becoming the Reading Specialist, first at Westside Elementary, then at Cleveland Intermediate School, until her retirement in 1998. As a child, she loved dolls, especially paper dolls which she lovingly collected and carefully saved. She still had her paper dolls of the movie stars of the 1950's kept safely in a box. Carolyn loved to laugh, and humor was a big part of her life, even though she was known, every now and then, to throw a famous "Lawley fit"! She loved reading trivia and laughing at unusual or quirky facts and stories. She also was an avid reader, and was known to have stacks and stacks of books around her at all times. As a child, she would often be found nestled in the branches of an old pear tree that grew in her front yard, reading a book. Gone With the Wind was her favorite book and favorite movie, a favorite that she passed on to other female members of her family. Being a teenager during the birth of rock and roll, she loved music from that era, and was a life-long Elvis fan. She also loved listening to country music, especially to artists such as Merle Haggard and George Strait. She also loved the challenge of playing different types of games, and would play for hours until she could master the them. Carolyn also became a loyal Cleveland Tiger Wrestling fan when her son, Joel, was first a junior high, then high school, wrestler, traveling all over to watch him compete. It was always such a pleasure for her to have the friends of her children over to visit at the house. She loved visiting with the friends of her two daughters, and laughed many times over the years at all the many boys who were friends of her son as they all ate, wrestled and played at the family house on Hickory Drive. She laughingly referred to all the many boys who grew up in the neighborhood as the "Hickory Drive Gang". In recent years, she enjoyed keeping up with old friends and former classmates through Facebook. Attending reunions that were held for her former high school classmates was also a highlight for her in the last few years. Until arthritis prevented her from doing so, she also spent many years doing cross stitch, embroidery, and crochet, creating many beautiful hand-made crocheted Christmas ornaments for her family Christmas trees. She also spent many hours with one of her youngest grandsons, Trey, making and flying paper airplanes and cutting paper snowflakes. As much as she loved those things, she loved her family most of all. She was very involved in the lives of her three children, and in recent years, her grandchildren. She was a proud grandmother to seven grandchildren and made sure that people knew it. Two of the big highlights of her life were when she took a trip with her daughter, Dianne, to England, Scotland, and Wales, visiting many sites such as the Tower of London and her personal favorite, the Isle of Iona, and when she and husband Bob, joined her son Joel and his wife, Jamie, on a trip to Tennessee. Carolyn was always proud of the fact that she was born in a two-room log cabin in the Cookson Hills. It was a very important aspect of her life and her country roots were a lifeline to her. No matter where she went in life, she always wanted to return there from time to time to visit. She was proud to be a country girl, and no matter where she went, Cookson, to her, was always "home". Carolyn was a long time member of First Baptist Church of Cleveland, and a Christian woman of great faith. Her favorite Bible verse was Isaiah 40:31, "But they who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." Carolyn departed this life into the arms of her Savior on Monday, February 6, 2012. She is survived by her husband of forty-nine years, Bob Dowdy of the home; three children, daughter Dianne Head and husband David of Cleveland; daughter Shannon Langley of Tulsa; son Joel Dowdy and wife Jamie of Carrollton, Texas; six grandsons, Caleb Head of Cleveland, Oklahoma; Airman Apprentice Jordan Head USN of Pensacola, Florida; Gage Langley and Trey Langley of Tulsa, Oklahoma; Grayson and Morgan Dowdy of Carrollton, Texas; one granddaughter, Logan Head of Cleveland, Oklahoma; and two brothers, Duard Lawley and Gene Lawley of Twin Falls, Idaho. She was preceded in death by her parents, Bryan and Garnet Lawley of Cookson, Oklahoma, and one brother, Glenn Lawley of Fort Gibson, Oklahoma. Services will be held at 2:00 pm on Friday, February 10, 2012 at First Baptist Church, Cleveland, Oklahoma, with her son-in-law Pastor David Head officiating. Interment will follow at Woodland Cemetery in Cleveland, Oklahoma under the direction of Chapman-Black Funeral Home.