Mary Sue Harris

Mary Sue Harris (Taylor, Allen) was born in Paden, Oklahoma, on March 27, 1933, to Homer and Avis Taylor. She died peacefully on June 4, 2023, in Las Vegas, Nevada. She was a dedicated mother and served as a lifelong educator in various roles in Oklahoma.

She enjoyed playing golf, traveling, and planning the next place she was going to eat out. One of her favorite vacation spots was Branson, Missouri, where she really liked The Presleys. She never was a fan of water, yet at one point she owned a house with a fairly large indoor pool.

Mary Sue graduated from Chandler High School in 1950 and played the tuba in the marching band. With four young kids at home, she began her college education at OU’s Cameron College. She continued by commuting from Lawton to Chickasha to attend the Oklahoma College for Women later named Oklahoma College of Liberal Arts. Her family moved to Tulsa halfway through her degree program in Elementary Education and she graduated after commuting from Tulsa to Chickasha, a major accomplishment for a mother with four young children. She then received her master’s degree from Northeastern State College. She started her career in education as a 1st grade teacher at Cooper Elementary for 15 years, then worked as a reading consultant with the Oklahoma State Department of Education. She then served as a building principal/assistant principal in elementary schools in the Tulsa Public School System and retired in 1994. She was extremely creative as an educator in the classroom and as an administrator and consultant.

Mary Sue was preceded in death by her parents, Homer and Avis Taylor (Melson), and her son Jerry Allen. She is survived by her sister, Joann Shafer of Chandler; children, Steve (Marta) Allen of Dallas, Jeff (Keli) Allen of Oklahoma City, and Jayne (Tom) Bell of Las Vegas; grandchildren, Paul (Lexie) Allen, Melissa Allen of Dallas, Matthew Allen, Kaci (Braden) Hodges, and Jerry II (Keyna) Allen of Oklahoma City, Rebecca (Matt) Johnson of Boulder City, Nevada, Joel (Bryn) Bell of Dayton, Ohio, Jared Bell of Stillwater, and Katie (Steven) Bell-Moran of Enid; great-grandchildren, Everly, Luke, Jack, Gemma, Madison, Olivia, Lily, Boone, and Theodore.