Louise Reich

Louise Reich, 78, was born December 5, 1944, in Wichita Falls, Texas and passed away on December 3, 2023.

She was the second child born to Cy and Grace Taylor and her family moved to Okmulgee, Oklahoma when she was a young girl. Her father worked for Ball Brothers Glass Company and her mother opened Grace’s Beauty Shop. Louise graduated from Okmulgee High School in May 1962.

After graduation, she attended Oklahoma State Tech taking secretarial courses where she met and married Earnest Brown in 1963 and had two children, son, James Blake Brown and daughter, Melinda “Mendee” Jane Brown. They lived in Gallup, NM, Muskogee, OK and Haskell, OK over the next several years.

Louise graduated from Cosmetology School in 1966 and worked for her mother at Grace’s Beauty Shop in Okmulgee. During this time, she found an affinity for horses, especially Appaloosas and became the Secretary for the Oklahoma Appaloosa Horse Club. While living on a “farm” with 40 acres in Haskell, OK, she loved and took care of horses and chickens and had many over the years, one special Appaloosa horse named Revel’s Summer Rain brought her joy.

Louise later met and married Clayton Vance Reich in 1972 and they had one son, Justin Vance Reich. They shared a love of bowling and met at the bowling alley one evening in Okmulgee. Louise was a great left-handed bowler, and everyone knew her yellow bowling ball since it was her favorite color.

Louise and Clay lived in Wilson and Okmulgee, OK until Justin’s high school graduation and then moved to Grove, OK where they owned Red Rock Resort on Grand Lake and enjoyed the lake life and boating. In 2004, Louise and Clay settled in Bartlesville, OK where they worked and served in the community. Clay always built a chicken coop for Lou wherever they lived so she could enjoy watching them and the fresh eggs that accompanied them. As a good Southern cook, she loved feeding her family and friends. Due to calls from the kids on “how do I make”, she even created a keepsake cookbook with her favorite recipes plus dishes from grandparents, aunts, and friends which is now a treasured gift.

Louise had a long and distinguished career in the medical industry working in various hospitals in Tulsa and surrounding cities. She started this career in 1975, working at Okmulgee Memorial Hospital in Medical Records and was an Accredited Records Technician specializing in Tumor Registry and advanced into the Assistant Director of Medical Records. She also worked for 4 ½ years at Memorial Medical Center/Cancer Treatment Center as Director of Continuous Quality Improvement and Manager of Continuum Care Services additionally achieving her Certified Tumor Registrar certification. Louise also was employed under various titles, mainly in the areas of compliance, risk management, and quality, for Grove General Hospital, Doctors Specialty Hospital, Long Term Acute Care Hospital, Continuous Care Centers of OK, Hillcrest Hospital, and finally Jane Phillips Medical Center in Bartlesville where she retired from twice. A final stretch in her career, she obtained the Registered Health Information Technician to help JPMC audit records for compliance and regulatory standards, maintaining statistics and assisting with clinical screenings. She enjoyed the process of getting hospitals ready for their joint commission reviews.

Her affinity for plants and flowers blossomed into having one of the most beautiful backyards in Bartlesville, being a member of Bartlesville’s Green Thumb Garden Club. She maintained and cared for plants galore and was given the nickname Weezer from the movie Steel Magnolias by her girlfriends. She even got a Weezer license plate. Lou had lots of perennials and many unusual and exotic plants, that she was always willing to share with others. She had so many favorite flowers it was hard to pin her down on any one specific favorite item. She also always had a garden section and loved canning when she could.

Louise had a love of animals beyond horses and chickens and instilled this same love for pets into her children. Lou and Clay always had pets and typically a fish tank. Fond memories of their most recent beloved pets belong to Ketchum, Swayze, Gizmo, Christmas, Cleo, Orphan Annie, Callie, Max, and Joe Kenda.

Patriotism was a huge part of Louise’s attributes. She decided to research family history and became very adept, perhaps an expert at researching genealogy, providing detailed histories of not only our family, but many others. During her research she was able to provide the required support to be a member of the Mayflower Society tracing our ancestry back four hundred years in time as well as connections in American Revolutionary War and early forefathers of America. Due to this love of history, Louise pursued and joined and then held various leadership positions in local chapters of Daughters of the American Revolution and United Daughters of the Confederacy, where her interest in genealogy really helped in researching and confirming records. She loved attending conferences and the activities of these organizations to continue the legacy of ancestors and honor those who served. She so enjoyed visiting buildings and places in PA, VA, and AR with family where she located the lineage of her ancestors.

Louise also volunteered to serve in many various organizations in Bartlesville area serving as the President of the local chapter of the Philanthropic Educational Organization. She liked volunteering and staying active, so she also served as a docent at the Frank Phillips Home in Bartlesville as well as the Dewey Hotel Museum. Her most recent volunteerism was that the City Council approved her appointment to the Bartlesville Area History Museum Trust Authority.

Lifelong friends were something that Louise cherished, and she kept in touch with many beloved high school friends throughout the years assisting with their gatherings as well as co-workers and friends from her 20s and 30s and she beamed when able to visit with them. Upon retirement, she started to do puzzles alongside her painting and enjoyed a doozy here and there sharing them with her friends online. These past few years Louise had delighted in playing cards and dominos on a weekly basis with Bartlesville friends. She decided to teach her kids how to play Mexican Train and it became a fun family competition always being won by her of course!

Louise had beautiful penmanship and loved cursive writing. One of her angsts in life was that public schools stopped teaching cursive writing. One Christmas she told her children that she was going to learn to paint so that we would all have paintings to display over our fireplaces. We all laughed. She was serious and began taking painting lessons at the Jerry Yarnell School of Fine Art. She was a very good student and began painting exceptionally well all kinds of landscapes and subject matter, even selling some of her artwork. Her children now have paintings by their mother in their homes.

Louise was preceded in death by her parents, Lloyd “Cy” Taylor and Gracie Mae Burns of Okmulgee, OK, her brother, Doug Taylor, and her husband of 45 years, Clayton V. Reich.

She is survived by her children, son Blake Brown and his wife, Shelley of Grapevine, TX, daughter, Mendee Perry and her husband, Brent of Tulsa, OK and son, Justin Reich and his wife, Nicole of San Antonio, TX. She is also survived by her sister, Jane Stabler of Deland, FL, her grandchildren, Keegan Brown of Mountain Home, ID, Kendall Brown of London, UK, and Karenna Brown of Norman, OK, in addition to her sister-in-law, LeAnn Pollard of Bartlesville and many nieces and nephews.

Louise will always be remembered for red hair, wit, and infectious laugh. We couldn’t have asked for a better mom, mentor, and friend and will miss her every day. Her memory will live on in the hearts of all those who loved her.

As we all reflect on her life, we will celebrate the memories we shared with Louise and honor her truly remarkable journey. Life Celebration Reception is Friday, January 19, 2024, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at Schaudt’s Glenpool-Bixby Funeral Service. The Okmulgee Cemetery interment will be following the reception on January 19 at 3:30 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks for consideration of donations to the Washington County SPCA – Bartlesville - https://www.wcspca.org/ or to Clarehouse - https://www.clarehouse.org/.

Arrangements are entrusted to Schaudt's Tulsa Funeral Service, 5757 South Memorial Drive, Tulsa, Oklahoma 74145. Family and friends are invited to leave kind words of comfort, share special memories, and offer condolences to the family online at www.schaudtfuneralservice.com.