Velma R. Washington, widow of Ernest "Bubba" Washington; a loving and devoted mother, friend to many and a very giving person was the seventh child of sixteen children born to Amelia and Sidney Wallace in Plumerville, Arkansas. She was reared in Tullahassee, Oklahoma where she attended Mark Hannah School. Velma professed a hope in Christ at an early age at the First Baptist Church of Tullahassee under the pastorate of the late Rev. L. E. Barber.

Bubba moved Velma and children from Tullahassee to Tulsa, Oklahoma in September 1953. She united with the St. Andrew Baptist Church under the leadership of the late Rev. M. V. Ferguson where she remained a faithful member until her death.

Velma entered Gilcrease Medical Center on April 25, 1982. She went for a thorough medical examination and was under the impression that she would return to the family home within two or three days. She demanded that her children not bother her neighbors and friends about her hospitalization. After 3 weeks and several examinations, complications, developed and she was called to rest May 31, 1982 at 1:10 AM. She has her peace with God and told her children that she was ready to go to the other world where thre was no more pain or sorrow. Her death was peaceful and children were at her bedside when she said her final goodbye.

Velma was loved dearly by her family and friends. Her philosophy of life was The Lord said, "You love them, and I will judge them." "Beauty is not what shows. It is deep within. What comes out is what shows." She exemplified this by the life she lived. There is not far from all of us that hidden certainty of death. Velma leaves to mourn her loss, her six devoted children, three daughters and three sons, Ernestine Ford of Saginaw, Michigan, Delores Gay of Tullahassee, Oklahoma, Ella Johnson, Tulsa, Oklahoma, O.D. (Boe) Ponds, Wichita, Kansas, Q. D. Ponds, Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Perry A. Ponds, Gardena, California; three daughters-in-law Cletha, LaFrances and Mildred; two sons-in-law Frederick D. Ford and Willie Johnson; (two children and one son-in-law preceded her in death.); 27 grandchildren, 6 great grandchildren. Four sisters: Addie Hickman, Tullahassee, Okla., Margaret Donel and Taulease Wallace, Chicago, Illinois, Bernice Moore, Tulsa, Okla.; two brothers, Sidney Wallace, Chicago, Illinois and James A. Wallace, Tulsa, Oklahoma; four sisters-in-law; Beatrice Powell, Mable Mackey and Mollie Washington, all of San Francisco, California, Vangie Washington, Tulsa, Okla; one brother-in-law, Charles Moore, Tulsa, Okla; one and only very dear uncle, Amziah Wallace of Tulsa, Okla.