R C Todd
1928 – 2020
RC Todd, 91, of Oklahoma City, left this earth to be with his Lord and Savior, Thursday, October 22, 2020. RC was born November 25, 1928 in Shallowater (Lubbock County) Texas to John and Viva (Summers) Todd.
He is survived by his brother Kenneth (Shirley) Todd, sister-in-law Linda (Dan) Cusher, daughter Sharon (Terry) Vaughn, daughter-in-law Jan Knipp (wife of deceased son David) and her husband Dale Knipp, grandsons Jason (Maggie) Vaughn, Christopher (Zena) Vaughn, Nathan (Jessica) Todd-Knipp, Kevin (Chelsea) Knipp and granddaughter Lisa (Eric) Todd-Sommerhauser. He had 11 great grandchildren, Taylor, Kailey, and Payton Sommerhauser and Addelyn, David, Landry, Kohen, Briar and Aspen Knipp and Charley and Wyatt Vaughn. He was a loving and caring husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather. He was loved by many and will be missed by all.
He was preceded in death by his loving wife of 69 years Wanda Louise (Tyree) Todd, mother, father, brother Clifford Todd, sister Mae Skipping, and son David Ray Todd.
RC devoted a large part of his life to defending our freedom in service to his country. He was a highly recognized member of the United States Navy. He enlisted at age 17 during the latter part of World War 2. His career in the US Navy extended over 30 years and included the Korean War and the Vietnam War. RC and his family were stationed in many US locations and also the Panama Canal Zone. He also was stationed on US aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean Sea. When RC completed his tour of duty at the Oklahoma City US Navy Recruiting Station he joined the Fleet Reserve. He achieved the rank of E9 Master Chief. His dedication to our country and the US Navy was admired by all.
After retirement from military service, he obtained a Bachelors Degree and a Master of Business Administration degree from Oklahoma City University. He graduated in the top of his class in both of these endeavors. He inspired all of his grandchildren to enroll and graduate with college degrees. After obtaining his MBA degree, he worked for and subsequently retired from the State of Oklahoma Department of Education.
He loved all things Western – movies, books and music. We believe that he saw every Gunsmoke episode at least twice.
The family wishes to thank the many loving caregivers who provided such wonderful assistance to RC over the past few years – including Christina Davis, Vickie Miller, Jeanette Stewart and Rose Weaver.
We also wish to thank Good Shepherd Hospice for their kindness and care during RC’s last days.
Funeral service will be held at Matthews Funeral Home, 601 S. Kelly, Edmond, Oklahoma. Visitation on Sunday 10/25/20 5PM-7PM. Funeral Service on Monday 10/26/20 at 10AM. Burial on Monday 10/26/20 at 2PM at Maxwell Cemetery, Pontotoc County, Oklahoma (near Ada, Oklahoma).
We will be live streaming this service in an effort to accommodate those people that wish to attend but feel they should not due to health regulations. To watch the service CLICK HERE to go to our YouTube page. Click on ‘Videos’, then ‘Live Streams’.
Oh, my…How very sad I am to hear that I wasn’t able to locate RC and Wanda before they passed.
RC was a Director at the Oklahoma Department of Energy in 1980 and until they closed the agency. They called him The Triple Dipper. I could just now hear his laugh. I answered directly to him as his assistant. He was equally a father figure/mentor. He and Wanda were especially kind to my 2 young children, helping us through the loss of most everything in an apartment fire and having us over at Christmas. We drove a caravan of electric cars from Oklahoma City to Tulsa with media all around. Maybe half a dozen of us from the office drove to a conference in Dallas. Someone suggested we stop at this steak place there for dinner. It had a giant indoor slide and there was country music playing. That’s where I found he was quite the dancer. We had a gag gift office Christmas party…so funny…that I will never forget and still have photos from 30 years ago. Oh, so many more stories. When the agency closed, we lost touch but I ran into him and Wanda a few times over the decades and thought of them many times.
I tried to locate them about a year ago with no luck.
I can honestly say he was an awesome boss and Wanda was his wonderful support.
I hope they get to meet my family in Heaven?