Barbara Dean (Curtis) Raley, born February 27, 1946, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She was the middle child of Norman Van Curtis and Vivian Louise Curtis. Barbara attended Tulsa schools and graduated from Edison High School in 1964.
Barbara worked in Tulsa after graduation from high school until she met Donald H. Davis who was in Tulsa attending Spartan School of Aeronautics. Don was hired as a mechanic by Braniff Airlines and was transferred to Dallas, Texas. Barbara and Don had two children, Darin and Wendy. Barbara and Don were divorced when the children were young and Barbara was later married to Bruce Raley, a Tulsa pharmacist, who was a former school mate of Barbara’s.
During her years as housewife and mother, Barbara had a great interest in plants and gardening. She and Bruce had a greenhouse at their home in Broken Arrow to contain their plant hobby. Besides gardening, Barbara enjoyed boating and cooking. She had a fun loving, social spirit.
Barbara spent her final years in skilled nursing facilities in the Tulsa area due to physical and mental stress experienced in her golden years. During this time of global pandemic, Barbara was fearful of contracting the Covid-19 virus. In spite of seclusion from family and friends beginning in March 2020 and careful screening of staff at her nursing facility, Barbara tested positive for the virus. She was taken to St. Francis Hospital on the evening of November 2nd due to a complaint of digestive pain and difficulty breathing. Hospital doctors and nurses in charge of her care in the Covid ICU made every effort to stave off this deadly virus, but by the morning of November 13, were unable to sustain her life any longer. Barbara Raley passed from this life on Friday, November 13, 2020.
She is survived by mother, Vivian Louise Paynter; sister, Pamela McConahy; brother, Van N. Curtis; her two children Darin Davis and Wendy Davis as well as grandchildren.
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