2 Timothy 4:7 – I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
Teri Madelynne Garner, 72, was born June 21, 1952, in Muskogee, Oklahoma, the daughter of Frank Warren Lake and Sandra Madelynne (Wofford) Lake. She passed away on Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, at her home in Porum, Oklahoma where she had resided for 50 years.
Teri was preceded in death by her grandparents Otto and Lillian (Weddle) Lake and Harry and Daisy (Taylor) Wofford; her parents Frank and Sandra, and her older brother Mark Alan Lake.
Teri is survived by her children, son Dustin Cody Tidwell and wife Jamie Tidwell, June 21, 1952 – Jan. 4, 2025
her daughter, Brandie Brashier and husband Loren Dale Brashier, her grandchildren, Jadie Schmidt and Nathan Schmidt, Weston Tidwell and Kadie Jo Tidwell, great-granddaughter, Madelynne Sue Schmidt, numerous nieces and nephews, who each think they were her favorite, and her sister, Kristi Gross and family, step-father, Earnest Brown and his children Blake Brown and Mendee Perry, and her dear friends Bobbie Pound and Susie Waters.
Teri went to Sally Brown School and Alice Robertson Jr. High in Muskogee and graduated from Muskogee Central High School in 1970. She worked during college at the Warner Nursing Home and graduated from Bacone College School of Nursing in the early ‘80s and got her OB-GYN Nurse Practitioner degree in Oklahoma City thru Oklahoma University.
After nursing school Teri went to work for the Oklahoma Department of Health in the Muskogee Clinic, then later in the McIntosh, Pittsburg, Haskell, Latimer, Muskogee and Okmulgee Counties clinics. She concluded her Nurse Practitioner career at the Okmulgee Creek Nation Indian Clinic in 2019, where she had spearheaded their Breast Cancer Awareness and Survivors Support program for many years, arranging vendors, speakers and chairing the events.
After retirement she worked with her granddaughters at Carlton Landing in Eufaula, Oklahoma and also took on house cleaning for her special people whom she loved. Her patients and clients became family to her, and she did not have an hourly clock that stopped her caring for and about them.
Teri was a childhood member of Shiloh Baptist Church in Muskogee, Oklahoma and present day member at Little Coweta Indian Baptist Church, Stidham, Oklahoma where she was the ‘kitchen wrangler’ always making sure the church members had plenty of what they liked to eat and then some for later as well. “A cookie for each hand and one in your mouth.”
She was well known by everyone to be an excellent cook; nephews especially loved her cake balls and Ding Dong Cake. If you stopped by the house, she would feed you and send you home with a little something for later.
She volunteered in food distribution networks at Porum and Webber Falls. Teri was an avid dog lover and supporter of many animal rescue organizations. She was a life-long cattle rancher. Teri was a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.
Teri could outwork you and just about anyone you know and leave you all wondering what happened. She ran her race, uphill, both ways, full bore to the finish.
Pallbearers will be Weston Tidwell, Nathan Schmidt, Lance Gross, Steven Gross, Matt Bennett and Mikey Bennett.
Family asks for memorials in lieu of flowers to Lone Star Dog Ranch & Dog Rescue at dogranchrescue.com.
A funeral service will be held at 1 pm on Thursday, January 9, 2025 at Little Coweta Indian Baptist Church in Lenna, Oklahoma.
A private family burial will be held under the direction of Mallory-Martin Funeral Home and Crematory of Stigler.
