Edweena Louise Harrell

Edweena Louise (Moore) Harrell, a native Oklahoman and long-time resident of Okmulgee and Okfuskee Counties passed from this earth in Tulsa, after succumbing to heart disease, April 8th, Easter Sunday, 2012. Edweena was born in Okemah, Oklahoma, to loving parents, Leon Clyde and Artie Lee Bullock Moore, July 26th, 1920. She was an excellent student, and studied piano and voice from an early age. Like many of her siblings, she was a talented musician, and vocalist. She delighted in performing in her church and for her community. Edweena graduated from Council Hill High School with honors, in 1938, and began her liberal arts education at East Central College in Ada, Oklahoma. There, she met and married Kent Wilson Harrell, in 1940. Their first child, Kay, was born in 1942. Shortly thereafter, Kent joined the armed forces as a volunteer and entered World War II and the European theater. In his absence, Edweena began her teaching career and taught in and around Seminole county. Kent returned near the end of the European invasion, in 1945, and the couple continued their college education at Fort Hayes University in Hayes, Kansas. Edweena majored in drama, studied English, piano, and pipe organ. Kent studied music and the two began their teaching careers together in Kansas; Kent as a music director, in Truesdale and Sublet, Kansas and Edweena as his piano accompanist. Edweena was a very gifted piano teacher and taught and inspired numerous students, including her grandchildren, during her years of retirement in Rogers and Okfuskee Counties. She founded the Artilea Music Association in honor of her mother, in 1983, and Edweena and her students began their participation in a number of successful piano competitions across the State. She continued to perform for her church, her community, and family, well into her nineties. Edweena was a prodigious antique collector and dealer and she and her husband had several successful antique businesses during their retirement years as well. Mrs. Harrell was preceded in death by her parents, her five siblings, and an infant son and daughter. She is survived by her husband of 71 years, Kent W. Harrell, Sr, two daughters and their husbands: Kay and John L. Morton Jr., Rosalyn and Dr. William S. Piechal, one beloved son, Kent W. Harrell, Jr, eight grandchildren, ten great grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews, all whom she adored. The funeral will be held Friday, April 13th, 2012 at 1pm at Shurden-Jackson Funeral Home Chapel, 220 S. Alabama, Okmulgee, Ok. Pastor Tommy Laxton officiating. Burial will be at Highland Cemetery, Okemah, and Ok. There will be a family gathering at Clarehouse 7617 South Mingo Road Tulsa, OK, at 6:30pm. Pallbearers will be Johnathan Morton, Jeremy Morton, Joshua Morton, Gabriel Conway, Dylan Mantle and Gabriel Weathers. Visitation will be Thursday from 2:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. and Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Shurden-Jackson Funeral Home in Okmulgee.