The Daily Oklahoman 
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 
January 3, 2009

Grace B. Lonergan passed from this earth to her eternal reward on December 31, 2008 following a long illness. She was born in Missouri to John and Caroline Hannefin in 1915. Graduated from Rosati Kane High School and matriculated to St. Johns Hospital School of Nursing where she completed her R.N. studies in 1936. She subsequently received a full scholarship and her Bachelor of Science degree in the first graduating class from the college of Public Health at St. Louis University.

She married Walter Lonergan in July of 1941, and moved to Oklahoma City. She is survived by all four of her children: Patricia Russell, Michael Lonergan, Anne Metz, and Laurie Stanford. She will also be dearly missed by her four granddaughters: Eileen Lonergan, Jessica Tucker, Molly Vorous, and Mary Lonergan; and her five grandsons: Jon Metz, Dylan Metz, Connor Lonergan, Joshua Legenzoff, and Luke Stanford. Grace had a long and distinguished career in nursing. She was a school nurse for 19 years in the Mid-Del School District, and was president for more than one term of the Oklahoma School Nurses Association. As a school nurse in Oklahoma, she instituted the very first programs for screening all school age children's eyes and ears. She was also instrumental in setting up the mass immunization programs against polio in Oklahoma. After she retired from school nursing, she became a guidance counselor for nursing students attending Rose State College. She had many and varied hobbies: sewing, baking elaborate pastries and cookies, gardening, and she especially loved studying antiques. She attended several college classes well into her seventies, because she wanted to never stop learning about new things. One of Grace's most wonderful attributes was her love for children. She shared an extremely close relationship with all of her grandchildren. She was never too busy to read a story or play "pony boy" or bake cookies, or even play dress-up with her granddaughters. This gift of herself was shared with many neighborhood children as well. If a "little one" (as she called them) lived nearby, she always made sure that they had an Easter basket, a special valentine or a small Christmas present. Mrs. Lonergan spent the last eight years living with her youngest daughter, Laurie and her husband Rick Stanford. Even though her health had been failing for the last several years, her mind was still sharp. She always watched Antiques Road Show and never missed having her bedtime snack of chocolate.

Grace was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Walter, and her youngest sister Loretta Eckles. On Saturday January 3, 2009, she will be laid to rest in Arlington Memory Gardens following a funeral Mass at 1:00 p.m. at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church in Del City, Oklahoma.

photo courtesy Marti Graham, January 2009
 

Compiled, transcribed and submitted by Marti Graham. March 2009. Information posted for educational purposes for viewers and researchers. The contributor is not related to nor researching any of the above.

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