Charles Ray FORD, 65, of Spiro, died Thursday, June 14, 2001, in Fort Smith. He was born May 24, 1936, in Bokoshe. Mr. Ford taught sixth grade at Arkoma Public Schools for 21 years, he was a member of the NEA, an Army veteran stationed in Germany and he loved to fish and work. He was preceded in death by his parents and one sister, Ellen Ford. He is survived by his wife, Lillie Mae of the home; two daughters, Barbara Ellen Adams and husband Wesley of Spiro, and Ann Davis and husband Don of Grapevine, Texas; two sons, Donald R. Ford and wife Joni of Spiro, and Charles Andrew Ford of Tulsa; one sister, Evelyn Fowler of Spiro; six grandchildren, Chris Ford, Terra Harman, Shane Adams, Logan Davis, Kendall Davis and Cindy Dunbar; and four great-grandchildren, Tyler Cooper, Britney Ford, Breana Dunbar and Larry Dunbar. Services will be held at 2 p.m. Monday, June 18, at the Murry Spur Freewill Baptist Church, with burial following in Fairview Cemetery. The Rev. C.L. Thomas will officiate. Pallbearers will be Stan Cottrell, Don Barnes, Brian Cross, Jimmy Treat, Louis Halcomb, and Denver Shaw. Arrangements are under the direction of Mallory Funeral Home in Spiro. Hildred Olivia STROHM WELLS, 93, of Poteau, died June 10, 2001. Hildred was born Sept. 23, 1908, at Oswego, Kan., where she later graduated from high school. As a student at East Central State College in Ada, she displayed a gift for dance and the visual arts. She soon earned a teaching diploma and began teaching high school students in Jay, where she was little older than many of her students. While teaching in Jay, Hildred met the young mathematics and wood shop teacher Kenneth Wells. They were soon married. Other teaching assignments took Hildred and Ken to a number of Oklahoma communities during the years of the Great Depression, with the last move to Poteau in the mid-1930s, where they opened the first Western Auto Store in Oklahoma. Their first child, also named Ken, arrived in 1937 and a second, George, two years later. Although Hildred's ancestral roots are Moravian, her parents members of the Moravian community of Grace Hill in Iowa, she joined the First Methodist Church in Poteau and was active as a Sunday School teacher. In addition, she cared for many young children in the church nursery during Sunday services. Her efforts in women's missionary study groups such as Eastern Star and Women's Society of Christian Service was an important part of Hildred's work in the community and one in which she took great interest. As a wife and mother, Hildred was caring and concerned, always present and encouraging her children to do their best, teaching courtesy and kindness with the "Golden Rule." A son's special remembrance is an art piece created by Hildred and inscribed with words from the poet Channing: "To live content with small means: to seek elegance rather than luxury and/refinement rather than fashion: To be worthy, not respectable and wealthy, not rich./To study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly./To listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart: To bear all/cheerfully: Do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never. In a word, to let the spiritual/unbidden and unconscious grow up through the common/this is to by my symphony." Hildred is survived by her sons, George of Shady Point, Ken of Denver, Colo.; and three grandchildren, Jason, Nick, Carly Jane, all residents of Colorado. She is well loved by all who know her as kind and generous with simply country ways. She will be missed always. Graveside services were held at 10 a.m. Thursday, June 14, at Oakland Cemetery in Poteau. Jeff D. WISE, 78, of Pryor, died Wednesday, June 13, 2001, in Tulsa. Mr. Wise was born on March 20, 1923, in Green Forest, Ark. He was the son of Elzie and Della (Shrum) Wise. He grew up and attended school in Salina. He served in the U.S. Army with the Battery A 552nd Coast Artillery Battalion during World War II. After the war he returned to Oklahoma and for a short time worked in construction, building bridges. He was employed at Midwest Chevrolet in Tulsa as an auto mechanic. He was married to Carolyn Bair on Aug. 22, 1958, in Joplin, Mo. He then started Bel-Air Auto Service in Tulsa in the early 1960s. Soon after he became co-owner of Brook Plaza Auto Service in Tulsa, before moving to Pryor in 1965. He operated Wise's Garage in the back of his brother, E.G. Wise's service station. He then owned and operated Wise Auto Sales and Services from 1970 - 1982. He was then employed by Aldridge Chevrolet for several years. He and his longtime friend Gene Russell opened and operated Wise & Russell Auto Sales until his retirement. Jeff was a member of Pryor Elks Lodge, American Legion, and a former member of Independent Garage Owners of Tulsa. He attended the First Free Will Baptist Church. He was preceded in death by two brothers, three sisters and his parents. He is survived by his wife, Carolyn of the home; two sons, Steven Wise of Pryor and Gary Wise and wife Kim of Poteau; two grandchildren, Tristin and Charley Jeff Wise, both of Poteau; and four sisters, Lola Harbolt of Pryor, Florene DeMoss of Gravette, Ark., Opal Maze of Pryor, and Geneva Foster of Oklahoma City. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, June 16, in the First Free Will Baptist Church of Pryor, with burial following in the Graham Memorial Cemetery, Pryor. The Rev. Glenn Lewis and the Rev. Ray Gwartney will officiate.Friends are contributing to the First Free Will Baptist Church building fund in his memory. Family will receive visitors Friday evening, June 15, from 7 - 9 p.m., at the Key Funeral Home Chapel in Pryor. Arrangements are under the direction of Key Funeral Home, Pryor.