Oleta May Wickham Oleta May (Cotner) Wickham was born April 2, 1926, to Bessie Leah Taylor and Otto Cotner. She passed away peacefully at her home on Feb. 13, 2021, surrounded by family. Oleta graduated from Williams High School in 1944. After graduation in 1944 she hired out for Santa Fe Railway and worked for them until she retired after 44 years of service as a train order operator in 1988. In March of 1945 she met the love of her life, Glenn “Bud” Wickham whom she married on Feb. 23, 1947. They had a wonderful marriage of 65 years before he passed in 2013. The marriage brought two children, Teri and Myron “Buck” Wickham. In 1983 she was blessed by two grandchildren and in 1984 she was blessed with her third and last grandchild. In 2008 she was blessed with her first great-grandchild and then blessed again in 2010 and 2018. She was a life member of the Order of the Eastern Star Ruby Chapter No. 3 in Winslow as well as a life member of the First United Methodist Church in Winslow. She is preceeded in death by her mamma, Bessie; daddy, Otto; three brothers, Charles, Lewis and Curtis, along with the love of her life, Bud. She is survived by her daughter, Teri Bumgarner; son, Buck Wickham; three grandchildren, Kacee Bumgarner, Joseph (Mariya) Wickham and Kristi (Frank) Ulibarri; and her three great-grandchildren Kavion “Charles,” KaDee and Kristina. There will be a private service due to the pandemic for family only at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 27, with a live stream on Facebook. A graveside service will be held around 3 p.m. at the Winslow Cemetery and all are invited. Greer’s Mortuary of Winslow handled the arrangements.
