Nyla Rae Graf

Nyla Rae Graf passed away in the early morning on February 2, 2021 at her home in Tulsa, Oklahoma. 

Nyla Rae Epp was born November 28, 1933 in York, Nebraska to Abe and Clara Epp. She attended York High School where she excelled in her studies and was admitted into the National Honor Society. She later attended the University of Nebraska earning her Bachelors in Education. Like many midwesterners in the middle of the 20th century, she made her way west where she became an elementary school teacher in California.  

Nyla made many lifelong friends there, including Paul Graf, whom she married on August 4, 1963. With an adventurous spirit and her husband’s pilot’s license, they took a two-person flight from California to Houston for a job interview. Upon their return to California, they found out that Houston called back, so they were on the move to Space City.  

After settling in Houston, they welcomed two boys. While raising their family, Nyla returned to school obtaining a Master’s in Education from the University of Houston. Upon graduation, she combined her new degree and passion for reading by returning to the workforce as an elementary school librarian. Between working and taking care of her active boys, she also enjoyed cooking, taking long walks, attending church and taking trips with her family across the US from Florida to Colorado, and California. Many of these trips were to visit her and her husband’s extended family.  

In retirement, Nyla became active in the community by volunteering to assist people with their taxes and other finances. She also adored spending time in her garden, with some of her favorites plants being daylilies and amaryllis. She and her husband continued to travel in retirement, taking a trip to Seattle, where they embarked on a cruise to Alaska and an international trip to Germany.  

Later in life they moved to Tulsa to be near family, where she continued to enjoy visiting with family and friends and gospel sing-a-longs.

She is preceded in death by her parents and her two brothers, Gary and Duane. She is survived by her husband, Paul, her three sisters, Patsy, Kathy and Donnel, her two sons Jonanthan and wife Elizabeth and Carl, two grandsons, Nicholas and Tyler, and many nieces, nephews and their descendants.