Jefferson County pioneer resident Edna Louise Collins Armstrong passed away Saturday, March 8, 2008, at Westbrook Nursing Home at the age of ninety-five. Born March 24, 1912, east of Sugden, Oklahoma, to John Monroe Collins and Eulalia Gillogly Collins, Edna was a third generation Jefferson County resident. Her father John Collins, affectionately known as Big John, came to Jefferson County with his parents A.G. and L.A. Collins. Edna graduated from Waurika High School in 1931, and attended business school in Wichita Falls, Texas. She became Deputy Court Clerk and Court Reporter in Waurika, working for J.M. Stewart in 1941, and worked for Mr. Stewart until his death in 1960, at which time she became the Court Clerk, a position she held until her retirement in 1985. At the time of her retirement, she had held the Court Clerk's job longer than any other Clerk in Oklahoma.

In 1953, Edna married C.J. Palmer of Ryan, Oklahoma, and in 1980, she married James L. Armstrong, also of Ryan. Having no children of her own, she claimed her sister Mae's chldren - Bill, Jim, and Edna Mae Simmons as her own and was like a second mother to them.

Edna was a member of the First United Methodist Church, serving as teacher for fifteen years of the Intermediate Class in Sunday School. She served as President of B&PW, was a former member of the Waurika Chamber of Commerce, and the Ryan Women's Auxiliary. She loved to travel and spent her life in the service of others. She lived her entire life in Jefferson County, primarily at the family ranch east of Waurika, prior to her residency at Westbrook Nursing Home.

She was preceded in death by her parents, a brother-in-law Cliff Simmons, and a sister-in-law Dorothy Collins.

Survivors include: her sister Mae Simmons of Granbury, TX; her brother Rex Collins of Lafayette, LA; her nephews Bill Simmons of Granbury, TX, Jim Simmons and his wife Connie of Waurika, OK, Gary Gollins of McKinney, TX, and John Collins of Duson, LA; her nieces Edna Mae and her husband H.T. Holden of Kremlin, OK, and Connie Gierhart of Lafayette, LA; and great nieces and nephews Tara and Doug Gunter and Tylr, Christy and Jay Sellers, Cody and Traci Simmons and Liberty and Jaxton, Cheyenne Simmons, Lana Moore, Magen Monzo, Shannon Myer, and Tim Holden.

Funeral services for Mrs. Armstrong will be at 1:30 PM, Monday, March 10, 2008, at the First United Methodist Church in Waurika, with Trevor Smith officiating. Burial will be in the Waurika Cemetery under the direction of Dudley Funeral Home of Waurika. Memorial contributions may be made to the charity of your choice in Edna's name. Condolence messages may be sent to the family at www.dudleyfuneralhomes.com.