Joan Mary Putnam

Joan Mary Kershaw Putnam, 79, died peacefully January 30, 2013, after a valiant seven-year battle with cancer. She was born to L.R. and Clara Kershaw, of Muskogee, OK. One of five children, she was the youngest by 4 minutes in a family blessed with two sets of twins. She graduated from Muskogee's Central High School in 1951, and St. Mary's College in South Bend, IN, in 1955. After college, she lived at the Barbizon Hotel for Women in New York City, working as a secretary for Blue Cross/Blue Shield. She returned to Oklahoma and started a family, raising five children. She mentioned recently that her favorite experience during her lifetime was "being a mom and a grammy." She was also a successful owner/operator in the oil and gas business and a longtime parishioner at Christ the King Catholic Church. She was preceded in death by her parents, her sisters, Patricia Lippmann Montgomery and Elizabeth Kunkel, and her brother, Robert Kershaw. She is survived by her twin sister, Jean Boehm of Muskogee, OK, her son, Dan Putnam, and his wife, Christine, of Edmond, her daughter Lucy Putnam of Cincinnati, OH, her son, Carl Putnam, and his wife Mari Ishibashi, of Lynchburg, VA, her son, Chris Putnam of Oklahoma City, and her daughter, Amanda Putnam, and her husband, Peter Koktavy, of Oklahoma City; and her eight well-loved grandchildren, Lauren Froh, Joe McConniel, Steve Froh, Tyler Putnam, Elliott Putnam, Clara Koktavy, Linus Putnam, and Olivia Koktavy, plus numerous cousins, nieces, nephews, and a host of friends. The Putnam family is thankful to all who have made these last months easier with funny cards and messages of hope. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to either Christ the King Catholic School or Bishop McGuinness Catholic High School. An Evening Prayer Service will be held on Thursday, February 7, at 6pm at Smith & Kernke Funeral Home. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at Christ the King Catholic Church in Oklahoma City at 10am on Friday, February 8, with interment to follow at Resurrection Memorial Cemetery.