Jennie Lois Teasley was born March 5, 1931, in Clinton Missouri to Hadley Herbert and Ethyl Eunice (Mosser) Teasley. She was the second of six children: William Bruce, Hadley Keith, Russell Wayne, Velma Carolyn and Elizabeth Merle.
Jennie’s parents moved the family to Oklahoma from Missouri in 1935. She began school in Moore in 1937. Shortly after the family moved to Oklahoma, Jennie met Leonard January and the two attended school and church together for years as friends.
While attending Moore High School in 1948, Jennie was crowned Football Queen. She said it was the first football game she ever attended. Jennie loved to sing, and while in high school she participated in Choir and Quartet. Jennie graduated from Moore High School in 1949.
After graduation, she enrolled in Draughon’s Business School, from which she graduated in 1950. She worked at Brown’s Dept. Store in downtown Oklahoma City until Fall 1950, when she went to work at Tinker Air Force Base as a secretary in the Base Commander’s office.
When Leonard January was discharged from the Air Force in 1953, they began dating and were married in 1955. After Jennie and Leonard were married, both attended night school at Oklahoma City University. Leonard learned woodworking, a skill he used all of his life, and Jennie took writing classes and enjoyed writing throughout her life.
Their first house was a rental house at 308 South Howard. While in that house, Roberta Lois January was born in 1957. Sadly, Roberta did not survive. In 1959, Russell Leonard was born.
In 1959, Leonard and Jennie bought a house at 221 West Main Street from Lester Dyer for $48,000. Mr. Dyer carried the note because he felt like people should be working for a house of their own. Then, in Fall 1960, a second daughter, Anne Elizabeth, was born.
Shortly after Russell was born, Jennie went to work for the City of Moore in 1959 and worked part time for three years. Since there was no city manager at the time, it was only Jennie and the City Clerk, Mary Boatman, both were hired by the City Council.
In 1963, Moore residents voted to become a city instead of a town, so Council appointed a city manager. Years later, Earl English was ratified by the Council as City Manager, and Jennie officially became the City Manager’s secretary, plus she had her previous tasks. When English suffered a heart attack, Jennie became Interim City Manager until English returned.
She acted as City Manager at least five times throughout her career. For years after her retirement from City Hall, she provided information about City records, history and the whereabouts of information.
In 1995, Jennie moved from City Hall to the Brand Senior Center where she was the Manager until 1999, when she officially retired to help take care of twin granddaughters, Faith and Lydia.
Jennie was a member of the Moore Beautiful Committee, founded after the May 1999 tornado that devastated Moore. She loved being in the group. One of their tasks was to replace trees destroyed by the tornado. The Committee and the City of Moore planted trees at parks, held tree sales, landscaped along The Riverwalk, and many other community projects.
Jennie was preceded in death by her husband, Leonard January; daughter, Roberta Lois January, and son, Russell Leonard January.
She is survived by her daughter, Anne Elizabeth (January) Means, and son-in-law Richard Means; grandchildren: Elijah Means and wife, Joyce; Jennie Anderson and husband, Austin; Landra Castaneda, and husband, Enrique; and Lydia and Faith Means; great-grandchildren: McKinleigh January, Elijah Means, James Means, Dhiego and Darrio Castaneda, Noah Anderson, Zadok Means, and Olivia Anderson. She is also survived by sisters, Merle Thompson, and Carolyn Thurber, as well as many cousins, nieces, nephews, and many friends and acquaintances whose lives were touched by her life.
Jennie loved the Lord and was active in her church. She led the choir, formed and taught Young People’s Group, began Children’s Meeting, and numerous other activities in church. Summers included an annual trip to Gallup, New Mexico where she and Leonard helped with Vacation Bible School at Rock Creek Mission, on the Navajo Reservation. There were always camp meetings to attend, and often their car was full of “extras” for the adventures and a snack bar after evening service at Coffeyville, Kansas campground, where Jennie was the Choir Director.
Then there was Pilgrim’s Progress, and numerous telling of that marvelous story. One day when she was home sick, she happened upon a blue book, Pilgrim’s Progress. She read the book and decided it would be great for kids. Then, she proceeded to re-write it in plain “kid” language from the old English. She drew pictures to illustrate the story and began telling the story to children. She told it in Moore and Bristow, Oklahoma; Coffeyville, Kansas; Gallup, New Mexico and Granite Falls, North Carolina, and more. Her translation breathed life into a massive piece of literature and challenged all who heard it to stay on the path to the Celestial City.
In papers she left, Jennie wrote the following on Sept. 1, 2018, “My greatest obligation has been to try to live the kind of life that will assure my children, relatives, friends, and neighbors that Christ is my King and that I have His spirit dwelling in my life. I pray that there will never be anything found in my life that will be a hindrance or discouragement to anyone.”
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Jennie Lois Teasley was born March 5, 1931, in Clinton Missouri to Hadley Herbert and Ethyl Eunice (Mosser) Teasley. She was the second of six children: William Bruce, Hadley Keith, Russell Wayne, Velma Carolyn and Elizabeth Merle.
Jennie’s parents moved the family to Oklahoma from Missouri in 1935. She began school in Moore in