Rachel "Annette" Saffell

Annette Saffell – Oklahoma City, formerly of Bartlesville, OK, passed from this life on May 25, 2024. (Rachel) Annette Saffell was born at home in the hills in Delight, Arkansas on September 16, 1936. Her parents were Paul E. and Helen (Hughes) Miller. She remembered not having running water or electricity and having a horse and wagon for transportation. She went to a one-room schoolhouse in the first grade and a one-room church house. During the war, her family moved to McAlester, Oklahoma, where her dad worked at the Naval Ammunition Depot. She attended school in McAlester and graduated from high school in 1954. That fall she came to Bartlesville to attend Central Christian College (now Oklahoma Christian University in Oklahoma City). Annette married Tom D. Saffell on May 15, 1955 at the Church of Christ in McAlester, Oklahoma. She was employed by Phillips Petroleum Company from 1955 to 1958, when she became a stay-at-home mom. She worked with the Highland Park PTA serving as secretary several years, was a Girl Scout leader, and worked with Cub Scouts. When Annette’s children were in junior high, she went to work for the Board of Education at Central Middle School as the attendance secretary and kept that job for 24 years. She served on the Foster Care Review Board (PARB) for Washington and Nowata Counties for 20 years, serving as secretary for that Board. She was a member of the Washington County Home Extension Group and also the Listen and Learn Homemakers Club. She was a member of the 55+ Activity Club, being very active with the exercise group there, and an early morning Mall Walker. Annette was a member of the Washington County Retired Educator’s Association. She was a member of ElderCare, also. Annette and Tom had 20 acres just outside of town where they built a “Cabin in the Woods”, where they spent so much time enjoying nature and fishing and hunting, especially when their grandchildren came. The couple traveled extensively, enjoyed gardening and reading. Annette was a member of the Adams Boulevard Church of Christ where she was active in many of the programs. She taught the Kindergarten Bible Class for 20 years and then team-taught with her husband in the two-year-olds for a number of years. In her later years, she attended the Dewey Church of Christ. She was preceded in death by Tom, her husband of 56 years on January 1, 2012; her parents and a brother, Larry Miller in 2005. Survivors include: a daughter, Cheryl Sanders and her husband, Terrell of Slaughterville, Oklahoma; a son, Brent and his wife, Barbara, of Edmond, Oklahoma; her four grandchildren: Kayla Goodrich and husband, Scott, Emily Saffell, Jill Shiflet and husband Jesse, and Brett Sanders; four great grandchildren – Jace, June, Owen and Everett; and a brother Weldon Miller and niece, Melissa, of Naples, Florida. Those who wish to contribute to her memory may do so by contributing to World Bible School, Church of Christ, 3700 SE Adams Boulevard, Bartlesville, OK 74006, or Hope Harbor Children’s Home, P.O. Box 1047, Claremore, OK 74018-9915. The family would like to express our appreciation to the nurses and staff of Epworth Villa Memory Care unit (in Oklahoma City) and to their related Hospice Care unit. Their care and compassion for Annette and for our family will never be forgotten. Thank you so much. Visitation will be held from 2:00 to 5:00 pm on Sunday June 2, 2024, at the Stumpff Funeral Home in Bartlesville. Graveside Services will be held at 10:00 am on Monday, June 3, 2024, at the Memorial Park Cemetery in Bartlesville.

Rachel "Annette" Saffell

September 16, 1936 - May 25, 2024