Obituary for Katherine Whitman

Katherine Dryer Hackett Whitman

(November 11, 1925 – February 13, 2016)

Katherine (Dryer) Hackett Whitman of Blackwell, Oklahoma passed on to be with her Lord on Saturday, February 13, 2016 at 9 am while in Integris Bass Baptist Health Center in Enid, Oklahoma at the age of 90 years after a six month illness that took her away from her active life in Blackwell.

Katherine Heuer Dryer was born on November 11, 1925 just before her twin brother, Kenneth, on the farm near Peace Valley, Missouri where all their siblings were born to James Dallas Dryer and Annie Mary (Heuer) Dryer. She grew up in Mountain Home, Arkansas after her family left the farm where she attended Mountain Home Public School graduating from High School in 1944. She went on to attend Central College in Conway, Arkansas, graduating with her teaching degree in 1947. While attending college, she met her first husband, Freed Hackett and they were married on July 7, 1947 in Mountain Home at her parents’ home. Together they had two sons; Kenneth and Kevin. Katherine and the boys came to Blackwell in June of 1956 where she and her older sister, Minnie (Dryer) VanNatta (who was stricken with polio at an early age) came to live with them, and together they had Dryer’s Shoe Store in Blackwell for twenty years. She also had a Dryer’s Shoe Store in Tonkawa, Oklahoma during the early 1970’s. In Blackwell on July 18, 1965, Katherine married the late Garry Junior Whitman; her high school sweetheart, who left high school to join the Air Force; and tracked her down 25 years later after his retirement from the Air Force. A few years after closing out the shoe stores in 1975 they were in the nursery business for eight years in Blackwell. Beginning in the late 1980’s Katherine was the co-owner and manager of the R&W Apartments in Blackwell for 25 plus years. She was an active member of the First Baptist Church in Blackwell for nearly sixty years.

Katherine is survived by one son; Kevin Ralph Hackett, and wife Karen (Snow) Leachman-Hackett, of Enid, Oklahoma, Grandsons; Brian Hackett, of Blackwell, Brandon Kyle Hackett and wife Katie of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Cole Lawrence Hackett, and wife Jeni of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Katherine is also survived by three step-sons (Garry James, Daryl & Raymond), a step daughter (Donna) and four daughter in laws; (Debra, Toni, Sondra, and Deanna).

Katherine was preceded in death by her husbands, as well as her son, Kenneth Hackett, her six brothers; Boyd, Floyd, Lloyd, Ralph, J.D. Dryer Jr., and twin brother Kenneth Dryer, as well as their spouses, her four sisters; Winnie, Jennie, Minnie, and Alberta, as well as their spouses, a step daughter, Kathy , and a daughter in law, Susan (Schmidt) Hackett.

Katherine enjoyed gardening, quilting, reading, and spending time with her friends, family and loved ones. Most of all Katherine enjoyed spending time at church including keeping up the flowers & shrubs, visiting with her church friends, serving her Lord & Savior, and studying her Bible.

Services are scheduled for 10:30 a.m., Tuesday, February 16, 2016 at the First Baptist Church in Blackwell with Rev. Randy Ratliff officiating.

Honorary casketbearers will be Brian Hackett, Brandon Kyle Hackett, and Cole Lawrence Hackett.

Memorial contributions may be made in her honor to the First Baptist Church of Blackwell Roofing Fund or the Next Generations Falls Creek Cabin Campaign of First Baptist Church of Enid c/o Roberts and Son Funeral Home, 120 W. Padon, Blackwell, Oklahoma 74631.