Elsie Kinder

            Elsie Irene (Alexander) Kinder went to be with the Lord on Wednesday, April 20, 2016. She passed away in Lawton, Oklahoma, at the age of 97 years, seven months and eight days. She was born September 12, 1918, to Claude Chester and Alma Ruth (Hart) Alexander, in Loveland, Oklahoma. She attended grade school at Holton and graduated Salutatorian from high school at Manitou, Oklahoma, in 1937. She was very proud of the fact that in all her 12 years of schooling, she was never absent or tardy. She enjoyed basketball in school and played for four years and was team captain two of those. She was basketball homecoming queen her freshman year in high school. She became a Christian and joined the church at the age of eleven years old. Growing up on the farm, she helped her dad in the field with horses, tractors and taking care of cattle. She married Herbert Vernice Watson on July 10, 1937. In April of 1973, she married John D. Anderson. He preceded her in death in 1981. She later married Francis Edward “Edd” Kinder on January 4, 1991, and they shared five wonderful years together before he preceded her in death on January 4, 1996. She has owned and operated Elsie’s Beauty Shop since 1953. She worked as a beautician, operator and instructor since 1953 and has trained numerous beauty operators during this time. In 1990, she was selected as an honored member of International Who’s Who in Beauty Work and received a plaque award. In 2005, Elsie was approached by Central State Beauty Academy about serving as a master instructor. She worked at funeral homes providing beautician and cosmetology services at Gish, McLellan, Dalton McLellan, Frederick, Gray Gish and Orr Gray Gish Funeral Homes. She maintained her Beauty License through 2012, although she moved to an assisted living facility in Altus in 2010.  She was a member of the First Baptist Church of Frederick, where she joined in 1946.             In addition to her husbands, she was also preceded in death by her father in 1973; her mother in 1997; and infant daughter: Marilyn Joyce Watson, in 1942; a son: Darwin Chester Watson, in 1992; two brothers that died in infancy; and a sister Esther Jewel Lyons on September 22, 2011.             Survivors include one daughter: Wyvonna Darlene (Watson) Kirk and her husband Gail, of Tipton, Oklahoma; five grandchildren: Darla (Kirk) Webb, Debbie (Kirk) Greene and husband Marty, Mark Kirk, Brenda (Watson) Bunney and husband Elwin, and Douglas Watson and wife Milli; and ten great grandchildren: T. J. Webb, Jared Webb, Lindsey Webb, Taylor Greene, Amy Greene, Tyler Kirk, Sage Watson, Summer Watson, Kayla Bunney and Colton Bunney. Orr Gray Gish Funeral Home111 N. 11th StreetFrederick, OK 73542(580) 335-2112