Audrey Faye Jeffus

Audrey Faye Foster Jeffus returned to her heavenly father on March 1, 2015, after passing peacefully in her home. Her life was spent in devoted service to her faith and her family, from which she derived strength and purpose.

Audrey was born in High Hill, Oklahoma, to the late Henry Elbert Foster and Eunice Morris Foster. She was the fourth child of thirteen to the farming family. With the onset of the Great Depression, times were rarely easy, but the family was close-knit and their deep ties helped instill a strong survival instinct in her that would stay with her for the rest of life.

Audrey was a good student and noted basketball player at Idabel High School despite her 5’1” height. When World War II began, she changed her college plans and went to work in Texarkana, Arkansas, to help the war effort. At the end of the war, she met and fell in love with returning veteran Edison Dale Jeffus. They were married on February 2, 1947.

The newlyweds moved to Norco, Louisiana, where they experienced great joy and tragedy. They were blessed with twins, Linda and Brenda, in 1949, but were tested deeply by the loss of Brenda. With their faith and their family to comfort them, the family pressed on to Wilmington, Delaware, were they were blessed with their son, Edison Dale Jeffus Jr., in 1952.

Over the years the Jeffuses moved with the times to Houston, Texas, back to Delaware, to Tulsa, Oklahoma, and then briefly back to Houston before retiring in Tulsa. Throughout the moves the family made time for camping adventures, late-night hands of bridge, and regular pilgrimages back to Southeastern Oklahoma and Southwestern Arkansas. Audrey dedicated herself to her husband and her children and helping them fight through any challenges they faced.

Audrey is survived by her husband, Edison D. Jeffus; her daughter, Linda Bare and her husband James D. Bare, Jr.; her son, Dr. E. Dale Jeffus Jr. and his wife Janice Jeffus; her grandchildren Jennifer Temple, James D. Bare III and his wife Emily, Brenda Johnson, Kane Jeffus, Gabriel Jeffus, Logan Jeffus, and Luke Jeffus; her great-granddaughter Vivienne Bare; and her sisters Fern Hubbard, Waurene Hodge, and Beth Largin. She was preceded in death by her parents, Henry Elbert and Eunice Foster, four brothers, five sisters, and her daughter, Brenda.

Services will be held at the Schaudt-Teel Funeral Home in Southeast Tulsa at 10:00am on March 6. Rev. Jane Brigden-Graham will officiate.

Audrey Jeffus will be buried in the Bethesda Cemetery just outside of Camden, Arkansas, at 3:00pm on March 7.