Joella (Walker) Hundley
Joella (Walker) Hundley
Joella was born on August 6, 1928, to Ted and Minnie (Evans) Walker in Elk City, OK and passed away Friday, October 20, 2023, at Brookdale Assisted Living in Broken Arrow.
Joella was a 1946 graduate of Sayre High School, where she met her husband, Charles Hundley. Joella excelled academically and played for the women’s basketball team. After graduation, she attended Oklahoma A&M in Stillwater, majoring in Business Education, and then pursued teaching. Charles followed her to college in Stillwater. They married in 1948. Joella graduated with her first degree in 1950, then earned her Master’s in 1958. As Charles was deployed to Japan during the Korean War, Joella began teaching in Delhi, then later Texola where Charles would join her as a teacher as well.
Joella’s father-in-law introduced her to the love of fishing and Colorado, where she would become a talented fly-fisherwoman. Joella gifted the tradition to her son, then his family, as well as her students. Joella and Charles moved to Hooker, where they had their only son, Chet. After his birth, she worked for a time with the Panhandle Eastern Pipeline Company in Liberal. In 1965, she became a professor of Business Education at Southwestern Oklahoma State University, teaching typing, shorthand, and office procedures. She retired in 1991.
Joella continued to live in her home in Weatherford until spring 2023, when she moved to assisted living in Broken Arrow to live out the remainder of her days closer to her family. She was able to visit with her great-grandchildren almost every week. Among camping and fly-fishing, Joella had a love of the outdoors, Colorado, skiing, and playing dominos. She frequently referred to her chair-side dictionary, constantly pursuing knowledge. Joella often joked she would read the newspaper as though she was expecting to take a test. She was quick-witted, a great conversationalist and loved to play a game with strangers: to see how many details she could gather about them before revealing anything about herself. Joella left a wonderful life that rippled outwards to the people who met and loved her.
Joella is survived by daughter-in-law, Danita Hundley; granddaughter, Anna; grandson, Reese Hundley and his wife, Amanda; two great-grandchildren, Ryder Marshall and Josiah Pete; and nephews Ron, Kent, Larry and Randy Walker. She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Charles Hundley; son, Chet Hundley; a sister in infancy and her brother, Odell Walker.