Bertha was the 7th of James Nathan and Nancy Jane (Geyer) Vannoy's 11 children. She arrived just in time to show up on the 1910 Census (at age 1 month) with her family in Jones Township, Major County, in the new state of Oklahoma. The family moved back to Togo then to Belva before finally settling for a while in Tecumseh where she graduated from high school in 1929.
She married her first husband, John Lawrence Goode, on Monday, July 11, 1932. Their first child, Barbara Ann, was born on Nov. 7, 1933, in Oklahoma City, but she died the next day. Harold Ernest Goode was born on Dec. 31, 1935, amidst all the New Year's Eve celebrations; however, he, too, passed away, only a month and a half after his birth. Not long after her son's death, the marriage ended in divorce.
While the Second World War was raging overseas, Bertha met and then married (May 12, 1944) Levi Robert "Lee" Stephenson. She was almost 34 and he had just turned 43 when they married. Children never blessed this union, but Bertha was happy nonetheless. Lee was an aircraft mechanic while Bertha worked a civil service job at Laredo Air Force Base in Webb, Texas. They had been married almost 11 years when Lee died suddenly of a heart attack in 1955. Her mother had died just a few years earlier in 1951, and her father followed her husband in 1956.
Not one to let the trials of life keep her down, Bertha continued at her job and kept up the homestead herself. She was tending the yard one day when Harold George "Hap" Arnold wandered by and asked her out to dinner. She told him she'd go if he'd finish the yard. He did, and she kept her end of the bargain. Eventually, on Saturday, August 16, 1958, they married.
Hap was in the service, and the couple, along with Bertha's maiden sister Gracie (who lived with them until she died in 1987), moved to Alaska for a time before returning to Texas. They wound up settling in Hereford, near Amarillo, where they were residing when Hap died in March of 1999, after over 40 years of marriage.
When Bertha, due to deteriorating health, moved to Oklahoma City to be closer to family who could care for her, she left behind a home chock full of "collectibles" - everything from yard equipment to knick knacks to clothes of varying sizes (kept to accommodate her fluctuations in weight). She was one of the ultimate pack rats, likely a symptom of her early years while her parents scratched out a living on farms in combination with having lived through the Great Depression and the numerous personal losses she experienced. If she knew that anyone needed something, though, there was a good chance she had at least one of the needed item, and she would find it and give it to the person in need.
One of her passions, besides shopping & collecting, was bowling. She belonged for many years to bowling teams, particularly in Hereford once she and Hap had retired.
Census Records
Head of House: James N Vannoy
1910 / Jones Twp, Major, Oklahoma (ED 175; Pg 2-A)
1920 / Brinton Twp, Pottawatomie, Oklahoma (ED 200; Pg 8-B)
1930 / Tecumseh, Pottawatomie, Oklahoma (ED 54; Pg 16-A)
Paternal Grandparents:
James Nathaniel Vannoy (abt 1835 MO - bef 1883 MO)
Joanna F Beshears Vannoy Laws (abt 1845 KY - ?)
Maternal Grandparents:
Thomas M Joseph Geyer (1832 OH - 1906 OK)
Nancy Angeline Davis Geyer (1838 IA - 1931, OK)
Siblngs
(half-sister) Flora Anne Vannoy Patten King(1890 MO - 1975 Midwest City, OK)
(half-brother) James Nathan Vannoy [Jr] (abt 1891 - bef 1900)
Ethel Lucile Vannoy (1895 Pink, OK - 1895 Pink, OK)
Oscar Jacob Vannoy (1897 Tecumseh, OK - 1977 OKC, OK)
Grace Hannah Vannoy (1901 Tecumseh, OK - 1987 Hereford, TX)
Arthur Porter Vannoy (1902 Tecumseh, OK - 1997 Duncan, OK)
Ernest Thomas Vannoy (1904 Tecumseh, OK - 1978 Sulphur, OK)
Gertrude A Vannoy Robertson (1907 Cleo Springs - 2008 OKC)
(Bertha Angeline Vannoy Arnold)
Thelma Inez "Inez" Vannoy Neeley Davis (1913 Togo, OK - 1995 Bellflower, CA)
Georgia Irene "Irene" Vannoy Hart (1915 Belva, OK - 1969 Stanton, TX)
* William Virgil Vannoy (1917 Tecumseh, OK - 2004 Poteau,OK)
Charles Warren Vannoy (1921 Tecumseh, OK - 1983 DeKalb, TX)
* Remains cremated
She married her first husband, John Lawrence Goode, on Monday, July 11, 1932. Their first child, Barbara Ann, was born on Nov. 7, 1933, in Oklahoma City, but she died the next day. Harold Ernest Goode was born on Dec. 31, 1935, amidst all the New Year's Eve celebrations; however, he, too, passed away, only a month and a half after his birth. Not long after her son's death, the marriage ended in divorce.
While the Second World War was raging overseas, Bertha met and then married (May 12, 1944) Levi Robert "Lee" Stephenson. She was almost 34 and he had just turned 43 when they married. Children never blessed this union, but Bertha was happy nonetheless. Lee was an aircraft mechanic while Bertha worked a civil service job at Laredo Air Force Base in Webb, Texas. They had been married almost 11 years when Lee died suddenly of a heart attack in 1955. Her mother had died just a few years earlier in 1951, and her father followed her husband in 1956.
Not one to let the trials of life keep her down, Bertha continued at her job and kept up the homestead herself. She was tending the yard one day when Harold George "Hap" Arnold wandered by and asked her out to dinner. She told him she'd go if he'd finish the yard. He did, and she kept her end of the bargain. Eventually, on Saturday, August 16, 1958, they married.
Hap was in the service, and the couple, along with Bertha's maiden sister Gracie (who lived with them until she died in 1987), moved to Alaska for a time before returning to Texas. They wound up settling in Hereford, near Amarillo, where they were residing when Hap died in March of 1999, after over 40 years of marriage.
When Bertha, due to deteriorating health, moved to Oklahoma City to be closer to family who could care for her, she left behind a home chock full of "collectibles" - everything from yard equipment to knick knacks to clothes of varying sizes (kept to accommodate her fluctuations in weight). She was one of the ultimate pack rats, likely a symptom of her early years while her parents scratched out a living on farms in combination with having lived through the Great Depression and the numerous personal losses she experienced. If she knew that anyone needed something, though, there was a good chance she had at least one of the needed item, and she would find it and give it to the person in need.
One of her passions, besides shopping & collecting, was bowling. She belonged for many years to bowling teams, particularly in Hereford once she and Hap had retired.
Census Records
Head of House: James N Vannoy
1910 / Jones Twp, Major, Oklahoma (ED 175; Pg 2-A)
1920 / Brinton Twp, Pottawatomie, Oklahoma (ED 200; Pg 8-B)
1930 / Tecumseh, Pottawatomie, Oklahoma (ED 54; Pg 16-A)
Paternal Grandparents:
James Nathaniel Vannoy (abt 1835 MO - bef 1883 MO)
Joanna F Beshears Vannoy Laws (abt 1845 KY - ?)
Maternal Grandparents:
Thomas M Joseph Geyer (1832 OH - 1906 OK)
Nancy Angeline Davis Geyer (1838 IA - 1931, OK)
Siblngs
(half-sister) Flora Anne Vannoy Patten King(1890 MO - 1975 Midwest City, OK)
(half-brother) James Nathan Vannoy [Jr] (abt 1891 - bef 1900)
Ethel Lucile Vannoy (1895 Pink, OK - 1895 Pink, OK)
Oscar Jacob Vannoy (1897 Tecumseh, OK - 1977 OKC, OK)
Grace Hannah Vannoy (1901 Tecumseh, OK - 1987 Hereford, TX)
Arthur Porter Vannoy (1902 Tecumseh, OK - 1997 Duncan, OK)
Ernest Thomas Vannoy (1904 Tecumseh, OK - 1978 Sulphur, OK)
Gertrude A Vannoy Robertson (1907 Cleo Springs - 2008 OKC)
(Bertha Angeline Vannoy Arnold)
Thelma Inez "Inez" Vannoy Neeley Davis (1913 Togo, OK - 1995 Bellflower, CA)
Georgia Irene "Irene" Vannoy Hart (1915 Belva, OK - 1969 Stanton, TX)
* William Virgil Vannoy (1917 Tecumseh, OK - 2004 Poteau,OK)
Charles Warren Vannoy (1921 Tecumseh, OK - 1983 DeKalb, TX)
* Remains cremated
Bertha was the 7th of James Nathan and Nancy Jane (Geyer) Vannoy's 11 children. She arrived just in time to show up on the 1910 Census (at age 1 month) with her family in Jones Township, Major County, in the new state of Oklahoma. The family moved back to Togo then to Belva before finally settling for a while in Tecumseh where she graduated from high school in 1929.
She married her first husband, John Lawrence Goode, on Monday, July 11, 1932. Their first child, Barbara Ann, was born on Nov. 7, 1933, in Oklahoma City, but she died the next day. Harold Ernest Goode was born on Dec. 31, 1935, amidst all the New Year's Eve celebrations; however, he, too, passed away, only a month and a half after his birth. Not long after her son's death, the marriage ended in divorce.
While the Second World War was raging overseas, Bertha met and then married (May 12, 1944) Levi Robert "Lee" Stephenson. She was almost 34 and he had just turned 43 when they married. Children never blessed this union, but Bertha was happy nonetheless. Lee was an aircraft mechanic while Bertha worked a civil service job at Laredo Air Force Base in Webb, Texas. They had been married almost 11 years when Lee died suddenly of a heart attack in 1955. Her mother had died just a few years earlier in 1951, and her father followed her husband in 1956.
Not one to let the trials of life keep her down, Bertha continued at her job and kept up the homestead herself. She was tending the yard one day when Harold George "Hap" Arnold wandered by and asked her out to dinner. She told him she'd go if he'd finish the yard. He did, and she kept her end of the bargain. Eventually, on Saturday, August 16, 1958, they married.
Hap was in the service, and the couple, along with Bertha's maiden sister Gracie (who lived with them until she died in 1987), moved to Alaska for a time before returning to Texas. They wound up settling in Hereford, near Amarillo, where they were residing when Hap died in March of 1999, after over 40 years of marriage.
When Bertha, due to deteriorating health, moved to Oklahoma City to be closer to family who could care for her, she left behind a home chock full of "collectibles" - everything from yard equipment to knick knacks to clothes of varying sizes (kept to accommodate her fluctuations in weight). She was one of the ultimate pack rats, likely a symptom of her early years while her parents scratched out a living on farms in combination with having lived through the Great Depression and the numerous personal losses she experienced. If she knew that anyone needed something, though, there was a good chance she had at least one of the needed item, and she would find it and give it to the person in need.
One of her passions, besides shopping & collecting, was bowling. She belonged for many years to bowling teams, particularly in Hereford once she and Hap had retired.
Census Records
Head of House: James N Vannoy
1910 / Jones Twp, Major, Oklahoma (ED 175; Pg 2-A)
1920 / Brinton Twp, Pottawatomie, Oklahoma (ED 200; Pg 8-B)
1930 / Tecumseh, Pottawatomie, Oklahoma (ED 54; Pg 16-A)
Paternal Grandparents:
James Nathaniel Vannoy (abt 1835 MO - bef 1883 MO)
Joanna F Beshears Vannoy Laws (abt 1845 KY - ?)
Maternal Grandparents:
Thomas M Joseph Geyer (1832 OH - 1906 OK)
Nancy Angeline Davis Geyer (1838 IA - 1931, OK)
Siblngs
(half-sister) Flora Anne Vannoy Patten King(1890 MO - 1975 Midwest City, OK)
(half-brother) James Nathan Vannoy [Jr] (abt 1891 - bef 1900)
Ethel Lucile Vannoy (1895 Pink, OK - 1895 Pink, OK)
Oscar Jacob Vannoy (1897 Tecumseh, OK - 1977 OKC, OK)
Grace Hannah Vannoy (1901 Tecumseh, OK - 1987 Hereford, TX)
Arthur Porter Vannoy (1902 Tecumseh, OK - 1997 Duncan, OK)
Ernest Thomas Vannoy (1904 Tecumseh, OK - 1978 Sulphur, OK)
Gertrude A Vannoy Robertson (1907 Cleo Springs - 2008 OKC)
(Bertha Angeline Vannoy Arnold)
Thelma Inez "Inez" Vannoy Neeley Davis (1913 Togo, OK - 1995 Bellflower, CA)
Georgia Irene "Irene" Vannoy Hart (1915 Belva, OK - 1969 Stanton, TX)
* William Virgil Vannoy (1917 Tecumseh, OK - 2004 Poteau,OK)
Charles Warren Vannoy (1921 Tecumseh, OK - 1983 DeKalb, TX)
* Remains cremated
She married her first husband, John Lawrence Goode, on Monday, July 11, 1932. Their first child, Barbara Ann, was born on Nov. 7, 1933, in Oklahoma City, but she died the next day. Harold Ernest Goode was born on Dec. 31, 1935, amidst all the New Year's Eve celebrations; however, he, too, passed away, only a month and a half after his birth. Not long after her son's death, the marriage ended in divorce.
While the Second World War was raging overseas, Bertha met and then married (May 12, 1944) Levi Robert "Lee" Stephenson. She was almost 34 and he had just turned 43 when they married. Children never blessed this union, but Bertha was happy nonetheless. Lee was an aircraft mechanic while Bertha worked a civil service job at Laredo Air Force Base in Webb, Texas. They had been married almost 11 years when Lee died suddenly of a heart attack in 1955. Her mother had died just a few years earlier in 1951, and her father followed her husband in 1956.
Not one to let the trials of life keep her down, Bertha continued at her job and kept up the homestead herself. She was tending the yard one day when Harold George "Hap" Arnold wandered by and asked her out to dinner. She told him she'd go if he'd finish the yard. He did, and she kept her end of the bargain. Eventually, on Saturday, August 16, 1958, they married.
Hap was in the service, and the couple, along with Bertha's maiden sister Gracie (who lived with them until she died in 1987), moved to Alaska for a time before returning to Texas. They wound up settling in Hereford, near Amarillo, where they were residing when Hap died in March of 1999, after over 40 years of marriage.
When Bertha, due to deteriorating health, moved to Oklahoma City to be closer to family who could care for her, she left behind a home chock full of "collectibles" - everything from yard equipment to knick knacks to clothes of varying sizes (kept to accommodate her fluctuations in weight). She was one of the ultimate pack rats, likely a symptom of her early years while her parents scratched out a living on farms in combination with having lived through the Great Depression and the numerous personal losses she experienced. If she knew that anyone needed something, though, there was a good chance she had at least one of the needed item, and she would find it and give it to the person in need.
One of her passions, besides shopping & collecting, was bowling. She belonged for many years to bowling teams, particularly in Hereford once she and Hap had retired.
Census Records
Head of House: James N Vannoy
1910 / Jones Twp, Major, Oklahoma (ED 175; Pg 2-A)
1920 / Brinton Twp, Pottawatomie, Oklahoma (ED 200; Pg 8-B)
1930 / Tecumseh, Pottawatomie, Oklahoma (ED 54; Pg 16-A)
Paternal Grandparents:
James Nathaniel Vannoy (abt 1835 MO - bef 1883 MO)
Joanna F Beshears Vannoy Laws (abt 1845 KY - ?)
Maternal Grandparents:
Thomas M Joseph Geyer (1832 OH - 1906 OK)
Nancy Angeline Davis Geyer (1838 IA - 1931, OK)
Siblngs
(half-sister) Flora Anne Vannoy Patten King(1890 MO - 1975 Midwest City, OK)
(half-brother) James Nathan Vannoy [Jr] (abt 1891 - bef 1900)
Ethel Lucile Vannoy (1895 Pink, OK - 1895 Pink, OK)
Oscar Jacob Vannoy (1897 Tecumseh, OK - 1977 OKC, OK)
Grace Hannah Vannoy (1901 Tecumseh, OK - 1987 Hereford, TX)
Arthur Porter Vannoy (1902 Tecumseh, OK - 1997 Duncan, OK)
Ernest Thomas Vannoy (1904 Tecumseh, OK - 1978 Sulphur, OK)
Gertrude A Vannoy Robertson (1907 Cleo Springs - 2008 OKC)
(Bertha Angeline Vannoy Arnold)
Thelma Inez "Inez" Vannoy Neeley Davis (1913 Togo, OK - 1995 Bellflower, CA)
Georgia Irene "Irene" Vannoy Hart (1915 Belva, OK - 1969 Stanton, TX)
* William Virgil Vannoy (1917 Tecumseh, OK - 2004 Poteau,OK)
Charles Warren Vannoy (1921 Tecumseh, OK - 1983 DeKalb, TX)
* Remains cremated
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Explore more
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
