Gwendolyn A. Harrison's Obituary
Gwen was born on August 20, 1935 in Tampa Florida to her parents Mable Brady from Waycross Georgia and Jose Araya from Buenos Aries, Argentina.In her formative years, Gwen was raised in Tampa Florida and when she was 16 years old she met the love of her life Bill Harrison. On the occasion of their meeting Bill who was in the United States Air Force was at the swimming pool having some fun, he was on an inner tube in the water (he might have been showing off just a lil for the ladies) and as others were trying to throw him off the inner tube, he spotted Gwen there at the pool and it was love at first sight! Gwen and Bill were later married on November 11, 1951 there in Tampa, Florida. They were married on Veteran’s Day because Bill knew that as an Air Force man he would always have their anniversary off as a government holiday!To this beautiful union were born Billy, Tommy, Melanie, and Jamie. Billy was born in Columbus, Ohio in 1953…coming from Florida, it was the first time that Gwen had ever seen it snow and then 17 months later the family moved back to Tampa where Tommy was born in 1954, from there the family was off to Puerto Rico for a couple of years. Moving a lot represented Air Force life at that time, After living in Puerto Rico the family moved back to Tampa where Bill got out of the Air Force and then went to college at the University of Tampa to get his Accounting Degree, Bill was also working at night making $1.25 per/hr stacking bricks while Gwen took care of everything at home that goes with raising two honorary little boys.Melonie was born later in Orlando in 1965 which would have been the second time the family lived there. While in Orlando the family lived very close to Cape Canaveral, in fact only a short wooded area separate the family home from launch site which was home to the Mercury and Gemini Space programs. The family loved to look up and watch the rockets soar and then later the family moved to Nashville, TN where Jammie was born in 1967 from Nashville it was off to Charleston SC and then later in June of 1969 the family moved to Dallas TX. It was there in Dallas where Gwen who had been Episcopalian, found the Lord and got Born Again. Gwen’s decision to follow the Lord also affected the whole family spiritually, the family often attended Jimmy Swaggart Camp-meetings as well as Kenneth Copeland and Jerry Sevelle meetings. In the summer of 1974 the familymoved to to Leesburg Florida and was there until Sept of 1981 when they literally became “Okies from Muskogee” when they moved to Muskogee, Oklahoma. By this time Tom and Patty were already here in Tulsa and Billy went to rhema 75’ 76’ and then Tommy went in 76’ 77’. The family was in Muskogee in until August of 1983 when they moved to Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.Gwen who had become a hair dresser back in 1970 did hair up until 2003….the family roundly recalls that when Gwen did hair she definitely knew how “to use that Bleach bottle” and as a result, all the girls in the family had the same color hair!Gwen also loved to do knitting and she made blankets for each member of the family. She also loved to cook, she’d often make sweets for everyone…and she made the worlds best peanut brittle, in fact the family called her the peanut brittle champion. If she made a pie or a cake it was like a treasure to all the kids, she was very creative and always made everything with a special pinch of her love! Gwen also shopping and hunting for sea shells at the beach. She would spend hours looking and hunting for shells in fact she’d walk miles up the beach looking for shells and was always so content there.Gwen loved listening to David Ingles and the Oasis network. It was always on 24/7. She also loved the piano and also loved listening Phil Driscoll.Gwen was the best grandmother ever, she thrived on the notion of taking care of people, it was all consuming for her, she would invest a lot emotionally and mentally in those she cared for. When it came to her family there was nothing she wouldn’t do for them. Daughter Melanie says “I strived to be a grandmother like her”Preceding Gwen in death were her parents, of course the love of her life Bill to whom she was married for 57 years; her two sisters; her son Tommy and her son in law Fredrick.She’s survived by her son Billy (Michelle), Daughter in Patty; her daughter Melanie Bischoff; her son Jamie (Jennifer) 12 grand kids; 3 and 3/4 great grandkids …because Amber has little Noah on the way!She was loved and will be missed by allMemorial Services will be held at 3:00 p.m. Saturday, October 19, 2019 at Rhema Bible Church in Broken Arrow.
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