Demoie Irene Burgess Worten 1920 – 2007

Demoie Irene Burgess Worten, 86, of Muskogee, died Monday, January 8, 2007 at Grace Living Center in Jenks, Oklahoma. She was born on December 1, 1920 in Boatman, Oklahoma. Irene was the youngest of six children born to Robert and Ida Burgess. The family moved to Locust Grove when she was six weeks old.

She attended school in Locust Grove through the 8th grade when the family moved to Pryor, OK . Irene graduated from the 12th grade in Pryor in 1939. She worked for Southwestern Bell Telephone Company until she enlisted in the Waves on June 21, 1943. She was stationed in Washington D. C. at the U. S. Naval Barracks as Chief Operator from 1943 until her honorable discharge on November 2, 1945. She returned to Pryor and worked as an operator with Southwestern Bell until 1956 when she went at work for the Air Force at Davis Field keeping a record of pilots' flying hours and then in the accounting department. During this time she was a member of American Business Women's Association and was nominated as "Woman of the Year" in 1958. She left the Air Force in 1962 and was employed with the Bureau of Indian Affairs as an accounting technician. When, in 1966, they moved all accounting departments to Albuquerque, New Mexico, she followed. She stayed until 1974 when she returned to Muskogee and worked for the Department of Human Services until her retirement in December of 1982.

Ms. Worten was preceded in death by her parents; two brothers, Newton and Doyle Burgess; and three sisters, Mary Coulter, Nan Ford and Margaret Patillo.

She is survived by one sister, Margaret Patillo of Jenks, OK; her two daughters, Linda Alegria of Arcadia, MO and Karen and her husband, Frank Judkins of Broken Arrow, OK; grandchildren, Anthony Edwards and wife Jane of Albuquerque, NM, Aimee Garcia Escribano and husband Dr. Robert Smith of Jacksonville, FL, Robert Garrison and wife Andrea of St. Louis, MO, Rebecca Garrison of Broken Arrow, OK, Laura Davies of Tulsa, OK, and Jennifer Irene Davies of Tahlequah, OK; great-grandchildren, Paton Edwards and Samuel Elliot Smith; nephews and their wives, Gene and Heather Burgess of Atoka, TN, Ronnie and Susie Burgess of Arcadia, MO, Phillip Burgess and Jim Nutter of Chicago, IL, and Johnny and Harriet Ford of Saddlebrook, MO.

Interment will be 11:00 a.m. Friday at Ft. Gibson National Cemetery. Memorial services will be 1:00 p.m. Friday at St. Paul United Methodist Church in Muskogee with Rev. Kevin Tully officiating. Friends may wish to remember Irene by making memorials to St. Paul United Methodist Church, 2130 W. Okmulgee, Muskogee, OK 74401 or the charity of their choice.

Funeral service arrangements are under the direction of Foster-Petering Funeral Home.