Jerry Lou Tipton, 81, died on Dec. 12, 2022, at her home.
She was born in Lamesa on Dec. 17, 1940, to the late Bird and Clara (Works) Owen.
At a young age she moved with the family to Earlsboro, Oklahoma, where she attended the Prairie View Elementary and Pleasant Grove schools.
Jerry graduated from Seminole High School in 1959. During her high school career, she excelled in vocal music and was selected for All-State Chorus her senior year.
She then attended East Central College as a music major. While enrolled at ECC, she met and fell in love with her future husband, Neill Truman Tipton. The two married on Nov. 25, 1960, in Oklahoma City.
In 1961, Neill joined the U.S. Army, and their life as a military family began. Their family moved to many places: Fort Sill, Baumholder Germany, Seminole (while Neill served in Vietnam and Korea), Fort Bragg, Fort Benning and lastly Fort Hood. Then the family decided to settle in Kempner.
In 1991, Jerry felt she needed to be closer to her parents. She then moved back to Seminole and became a caregiver once again.
Jerry is survived by her two siblings, Donald Owen and wife Anita of Emory, Texas, and Marianna Kay Owen Streets and husband James of Shawnee, Oklahoma; her three children, Neill Thompson Tipton and wife Jane of Eldersburg, Maryland, Christopher Wayne Tipton and his wife Jacqueline of Belize City, Belize, and Kelly Ann Tipton Hankal of Seminole, Oklahoma; eight grandchildren, Kerry Birger and husband Josh of Eldersburg, Virginia Hair and husband Jeremy of Seminole, Galen Hankal and wife Lezlie of Seminole, Sheena Tanner and fiancée Joel Fukuda of Copperas Cove, Brittany Sauceda and wife Katie of Temple, Kathleen Tipton of Eldersburg, Christopher Ryan Tipton stationed at Fort Bragg, and Neill Smith Tipton of Sterling, Virginia; as well as 15 greatgrandchildren.
A memorial service is scheduled for 2 p.m. Dec. 16 at the Swearingen Funeral Home Chapel in Seminole, OK.
