Cheryl Lynn Whittington, 68, passed away on Wednesday, July 10, 2019, in El Reno, OK.
Cheryl Lynn was born on August 5, 1950, to Wanda Jean (De Wesse) Trussell, Harold Trussell, and her big sister Lana in Los Angeles, CA. She took great pride in being a “California Girl” straight outta Compton. Times were often difficult being raised by one parent but things changed in 1955. Jean met a handsome truck driver named Bill Hutson and on January 13, 1956, in Ruidoso, NM Cheryl and Lana had a Dad.
They soon moved from California to Ruidoso where Bill and Jean helped run Rainbow Trout Lake that Bill and his family had built. Cheryl said, “it was the greatest playground any kid could have ever had.”
A year later the new family moved to El Paso, TX where her little brother and sister were born. Cheryl moved with her family from El Paso just prior to her senior year to Yukon, OK where she graduated high school in 1969.
After high school, she went to Cosmetology school to become a beautician and ironically she worked at the same property where her granddaughter Jennifer currently lives. Later Cheryl worked at 7-11 and O’Melley’s Cafeteria.
Cheryl married, Earl Leon Whittington, the love of her life, on July 3, 1974. They met in Bethany, OK while “dragging” 39th street. She thought he was very handsome and liked his classic 1969 Cutlass Supreme. They began their life together in a trailer just off 10th and Council in Oklahoma City and moved a couple of times in that area. Here they began raising their family first with their son Earl Jay Whittington, then his brother James Adam Whittington. In order to be a stay at home Mom, Cheryl babysat many of the neighborhood children over the years. Each and every one of them was like her own and dear to her heart like Donnie and Tristin, they were all her babies.
In 1990, Cheryl and Earl moved their family to Yukon, OK starting out in a trailer at Newmyer Park then buying their home on Bass Avenue. They raised their boys with love, discipline, and ethics. They went to all the airshows, attended boy scouts, loved anything military, and spent many hours building and perfecting Earl’s love of military models.
Here, Cheryl worked for Jerry Mac’s BBQ and then went to work for the Yukon School system working in almost all of the cafeterias within the district. After 20 plus years of service, Cheryl retired in the spring of 2018 from her final school, Shedeck Elementary.
Cheryl or “Grandma Bear” to granddaughter, Cailyn, was just that, a momma bear. No one was going to hurt or do her babies wrong. This Christian-based woman lived every single day doing things her way, not compromising when she did not agree, not afraid of being politically incorrect and above all putting her children and grandchildren above her own needs. Right to the very end Cheryl was in control and doing things her way, shielding her family, trying to make her passing something they did not need to see.
Cheryl was preceded in death by her husband, Earl Leon Whittington; mother, Wanda Jean Hutson; father, Harold Trussell; dad, A.W. Bill Hutson; as well as her grandparents.
Cheryl is survived by her two sons, Earl Whittington and James Whittington both of Yukon, OK; daughter-in-law, Julie Whittington of Yukon, OK; sister, Lana Church of Oklahoma City, OK; half-brother, Ken Hutson of Lexington, TN; half-sister, Billie Warsop of Yukon, OK; half-sister Christine Trussell of Kansas; “Auntie”, Shirley Hale of Yukon, OK; 5 grandchildren: Joshua Whittington of Yukon, OK, Carson Whittington, of Nevada, Cailyn Whittington of Yukon, OK, Jennifer Whittington of Yukon, OK, Hayley Weber of Germany, and numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins.
A Celebration of Life service will be held at 1:30 p.m., Saturday, July 20, 2019, at the First United Methodist Church, 400 Elm Street, Yukon, OK 73099.
Online condolences may be signed at http://www.yandafuneral.com. Arrangements are under the direction of Yanda & Son Funeral Home and Cremation Services, Yukon, OK.
