LuRetta Edens Hall

Celebration of Life funeral service for LuRetta Edens Hall was Saturday, February 15, 2025, at the First Baptist Church in Snyder with Dr. Michael Geiger officiating.
Burial was in the Fairlawn Cemetery, Snyder, under the direction of Becker-Rabon Funeral Home of Snyder.
LuRetta Edens Hall, age 97, passed away on Tuesday, February 11, 2025, in Lawton.
LuRetta Edens Hall was born January 20, 1928, to Ernest and Julia (Shackelford) Edens, on the family farm east of Hobart. She was the fifth child born of ten children that lived on the old Ozark Trail and as LuRetta describes they were raised in a cotton patch. She rode on her mother’s cotton sack from the age of three years and later became one of the young farm hands pulling cotton. Living during the “Dust Bowl” days, she and her siblings found a way to make it through many dusty days by hanging wet blankets or sheets over doors and windows to catch the dirt. LuRetta loved to play “hide & seek” with her siblings and was proud to walk or ride her horse to the one room schoolhouse near their home.
Later the family moved to Snyder, with LuRetta joining her family in the cotton fields. In Snyder, LuRetta Edens caught the eye of her true love, R.C. Hall. While she was in the 11th grade, they married in 1945, just before R.C. entered the Army and deployed to the Philippines during World War II. LuRetta was only 17 and had promised her parents to finish high school, a promise she kept with other young war brides at Snyder High School.
After R.C. returned home in 1947, they lived briefly in Dallas, Texas, before returning to a farm northeast of Mountain Park with the impending birth of their first child, Linda. LuRetta loved farm life and became a strong partner in helping with crops, raising & tending cattle, perfecting her excellent cooking skills and supporting R.C. in his long hours as the manager of the Snyder Coop.
One fall, LuRetta and R.C. pulled 28 bales of cotton that allowed them to purchase their first two room home with an attic. She grew up from childhood to marriage without running water and pumped well water to carry to her childhood and the first home she and R.C. purchased. She vowed to raise her children in the church and attended a small country church before joining the Mt. Park First Baptist Church. As they moved to Snyder, LuRetta and R.C. became active members of the Snyder First Baptist Church where LuRetta taught Sunday School from the youngest to adult classes. She was involved in the Oklahoma Baptist Women’s group as well as teaching summer Bible School and helping with Falls Creek Church Camp. 
Her “cowboy cookies” were well known in many of the Falls Creek Camp and frequently didn’t even make it to the camp as they were consumed in route to the camp. LuRetta’s popcorn balls were a “must stop” for Snyder Halloween “trick or treaters.” She was quick and dependable to cook for neighbors and friends in need. According to her grandchildren, she cooked for the world. As an excellent seamstress, she sewed her daughter’s and granddaughter’s clothes and may have even dressed a Barbie doll, frog or small pig. She had great pride in making quilts for each of her children and grandchildren as well as being published in “Milking the Kickers,” a SW Oklahoma History book.
LuRetta loved to garden and provided wonderful okra as well as black eyed peas that was consumed at every family gathering and reunion. Always looking ahead, she planted pecan trees at their last home in Snyder and was seen frequently picking up pecans and preparing them to distribute to the family for holiday cooking and making at least a “jillion” chocolate pecan turtles that her children and grandkids looked forward to receiving each Christmas.
Her marvelous sense of humor and quick smile made her an instant new friend to all she met. She frequently traveled with R.C. around the state of Oklahoma and the US as he performed duties and visits for the Oklahoma Wheat Growers’ Association and later the Altus Cotton Compress. She adapted well to being a caregiver to R.C. during the last ten years of his life. When R.C. passed away in 2010, LuRetta continued living in their Snyder home until 2018 before moving to Brookridge Assisted Living and later to Brentwood Assisted Living.
She was preceded by husband, Ralph C. Hall, daughter, Paula Hall-Collins, parents, Ernest and Julia Edens and nine siblings. 
She is survived by her daughter, Linda Alexander, Lawton; son, Mark Hall, Lawton; four grandchildren: Karen Gilbert, Yukon; Kevin Alexander and wife Tamma, Conroe, Texas; Cassey Denham, Snyder; Jackie Carpenter and husband Corey, Snyder; five great-grandchildren, Ashley Ducker and husband Chris, Shelby Gilbert, Tyler Gilbert, Kaitlin Alexander, Kelsie Alexander, J.W. Denham; and five great-great-grandchildren, Kaiden and Kinley Johnson, Cali and Colin Ducker, Julian and Holden Wimsey. 
Memorial contributions may be made to the First Baptist Church of Snyder or Fairlawn Cemetery Association. 
An online guest book and sympathy cards are available at www.beckerfuneral.com.