Obituary for Luke Wesley Gresham
Luke Wesley Gresham was born February 24, 1919 at Altus, Oklahoma, the youngest of four children of parents L.H. and Carrie Anderson Graham. Luke spent most of the 83 years of his life on the family farm near the town. Despite having been born deaf, his childhood was happily filled with play and the enjoyments or rural life in Southwest Oklahoma. As a child, Luke was known by family and acquaintances to be remarkably strong physically. This trait continued until the very last days of his life, despite limits in activity he encountered from lifelong deafness and blindness for nearly 50 years. Play in his early childhood included pushing heavy wagons and implements, normally parked in the barn area of the farm, and placing them near the dwelling that was the family's residence. Of greater concern to his parents than this exercise, was his delight in rolling an automobile tire down the highway which passed in front of his house. The brisk enjoyment ended when a practical trick, devised by his mother and performed by his sister Josephine, gave him a mortal scare (Josephine was dressed in men's overalls and her face was covered with a black stocking). Sundays found him regularly with an over abundance of energy which occupied his mother's full attention. Also, evident to all worshippers, was his eagerness to place his family's tithe envelope in the offering plate when it was passed at the Altus Church of the Nazarene. This ritual continued, whenever he was at home, as long as the parents and sisters lived.
The simple enjoyments of early childhood were interrupted when he reached the age of six years, the time to start schooling for the first time. Oklahoma School for the Deaf was located in Sulphur, some one hundred miles from Altus. The little deaf boy cried pitifully the initial time that his parents left him for that home which he dearly loved but would not see again for nine months, except for a week of Christmas recess. And so it would be for the succeeding twelve years. In the elementary grades Luke progressed well, but when he entered high school he struggled because of increasingly poor eyesight. This handicap also limited his participation in the athletic programs and other school activities. He loved football, in which the School for the Deaf excelled during those years, but he could not participate actively in the game because of the visual handicap. He graduated from high school in normal time, however. He then returned to his home and the farm where he aspired to gain high success. He talked, using hand signs, about utilizing the knowledge he had gained in the OSD classes in which management skills were included in the content.
With the passing of time into the early thirties of Luke's life, an accident caused by his too limited vision, ended his dream for wealth from farming. (He drove a tractor with plow attached into an irrigation ditch). He was utterly devastated by this early crash of his plans and ambitions. Yet, he fought determinedly against defeat while losing the battle. At first, he sought divine help in the struggle, by diligently reading of the large print family Bible and by fervent and earnest prayer. Sadly, total blindness ensued and replaced his visions of the good life with the reality of total darkness with respect to the human and physical environment. Gradually, by middle age, he became resigned to his fate and grudgingly settled, for the most part, into a serene inactivity. In 1979, he moved with his two sisters Eunice and Josephine to Bethany, Oklahoma, to be nearer their brother, Paul. He stood special pride during the years which followed in being near his nephews Loren and Danny Gresham, while they achieved success himself was denied in both athletic and academic and professional attainments.
Nevertheless, Luke did what good he could for as long as he could, and he made the world a better place than it would have been without him. May God reward him richly in that better place to which he has now gone. Gloria in Excelsis!
07/12/2002
10:00 AM
Graveside
Altus City Cemetery
Altus
OK
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The simple enjoyments of early childhood were interrupted when he reached the age of six years, the time to start schooling for the first time. Oklahoma School for the Deaf was located in Sulphur, some one hundred miles from Altus. The little deaf boy cried pitifully the initial time that his parents left him for that home which he dearly loved but would not see again for nine months, except for a week of Christmas recess. And so it would be for the succeeding twelve years. In the elementary grades Luke progressed well, but when he entered high school he struggled because of increasingly poor eyesight. This handicap also limited his participation in the athletic programs and other school activities. He loved football, in which the School for the Deaf excelled during those years, but he could not participate actively in the game because of the visual handicap. He graduated from high school in normal time, however. He then returned to his home and the farm where he aspired to gain high success. He talked, using hand signs, about utilizing the knowledge he had gained in the OSD classes in which management skills were included in the content.
With the passing of time into the early thirties of Luke's life, an accident caused by his too limited vision, ended his dream for wealth from farming. (He drove a tractor with plow attached into an irrigation ditch). He was utterly devastated by this early crash of his plans and ambitions. Yet, he fought determinedly against defeat while losing the battle. At first, he sought divine help in the struggle, by diligently reading of the large print family Bible and by fervent and earnest prayer. Sadly, total blindness ensued and replaced his visions of the good life with the reality of total darkness with respect to the human and physical environment. Gradually, by middle age, he became resigned to his fate and grudgingly settled, for the most part, into a serene inactivity. In 1979, he moved with his two sisters Eunice and Josephine to Bethany, Oklahoma, to be nearer their brother, Paul. He stood special pride during the years which followed in being near his nephews Loren and Danny Gresham, while they achieved success himself was denied in both athletic and academic and professional attainments.
Nevertheless, Luke did what good he could for as long as he could, and he made the world a better place than it would have been without him. May God reward him richly in that better place to which he has now gone. Gloria in Excelsis!
07/12/2002
10:00 AM
Graveside
Altus City Cemetery
Altus
OK
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