Loretta Sue Corley was born in Ryan, Oklahoma on November 6, 1949 to Allen Alexander and Nila Carlisle Keller. She passed from this life Saturday, March 16, 2024 at her home in Ryan at the age of 74. She was a 1967 graduate of Ryan High School. She a!ended Oklahoma State University. While at OSU, she worked as a Senior Executive Assistant and served as the business manager of the College of Veterinary Medicine. This is where she met and later married Lane Corley on June 6, 1976 in Stillwater, Oklahoma. She and Lane began their new life together complete with four kids and the challenges of making a blended family work and work well. This life journey took them to Starkville, Mississippi, Lincoln, Nebraska, and Ryan, Oklahoma. Loretta was an extremely talented woman who held many different jobs over the course of her working career. She also worked at the Mississippi State Department of Agricultural Extension while living in Starkville. The position she may most be remembered for was as the Business Manager of their partnered veterinary practice at the Jefferson County Animal Hospital. Many were unaware of the incredible work she continued to do from her home on the farm southeast of Ryan. Loretta started her own business where she conducted clinical studies for pharmaceutical companies as well as performing data auditing. She was so good at this work that she was given a commendation in recognition of The First Ever Error Free Data-Pack which was an incredible feat!. Loretta was an active member in the Ryan Alumni Association holding several leadership positions, creating and maintaining the alumni records, and planning the reunions which she looked forward to so much. Ryan was ever her beloved home and thoughts and memories of the town, the people in it, and her family home place carried her through when she lived in away in other towns and other states. Loretta and Lane always did their own ‘homesteading’ where ever they made their homes. They preferred living more rurally and spent their time fixing up places and making room for horses, pets, project animals and an occasional orphan calf. Loretta felt that she was always working her way back to her family’s farm and once she finally returned, she has happily spent the majority of her time ever since.

Loretta had many gifts and talents but her most generous one was the investment of her time and the sharing of her love and respect for the land. Whenever any grandchildren were on the place, which was often, there was no limit to what Loretta would do with them. She called it ‘investigating’. The range of activities was broad: excursions on the creek, fishing on ponds, treks across pastures, history lessons, hunting quail, camping, snake hunting, shed hunting, metal detecting, wood working, painting rocks, and so much more. Loretta also taught them many of the skills needed to live on and run a farm. She was a ‘can-do’ type of woman and everyone respected her knowledge and her capabilities. Loretta enjoyed reading, crossword puzzles, and playing Scrabble. She loved fishing, tanning different types of animal hides, and generally just being outdoors. She was a storyteller, writer, and local historian. As a preserver of history, one of her projects was to interview residents of the Ryan Nursing Home publishing their stories and recollections in the Ryan Leader. She and her friend, Laura Thorn Jackson, are responsible for the painted scenes that decorate the storefronts on Main Street to this day.

She is survived by her husband Lane of the home, children - Lori Givens Love! and husband Macy, Clint Corley and wife Debbie, Jim Corley, and Tammy Neher, sister - Paula Roark and husband Larry, brother - Mike Keller and wife Brenda, 14 grandchildren and 16 great grandchildren. I shall think of you often in a warm sweet way, Thoughts of you will never make me sad, I’ll remember the fine talks, the friendly laughter and the relationship we’ve had. You, like the sunset, the windmill and a horse galloping free. Live in my heart and have become a part of me.

- Loretta Corley

Graveside Services
1:00 PM - Friday
March 22, 2024
Ryan Cemetery
Ryan, Oklahoma

Celebration of Life Service
2:00PM – Friday
March 22, 2024
Ryan Senior Citizens Center