Willie Maude Harvey (nee Weeks) was born in Durant Oklahoma on May 29, 1925. She celebrated her one hundredth birthday happily with family and friends present in Oklahoma City in May 2025 and passed peacefully on February 27, 2026.

Born in the age of the Model T, she still possessed a sharp mind and wit in the age of Artificial Intelligence. For much of her adult life, that mind and a creative spark evidenced itself in luminous and striking pieces of art painted over decades of time.

The daughter of a Baptist preacher, her lifelong Christian faith carried her through a poverty-stricken Depression-era childhood in small town Oklahoma; through cross-country trips and secretarial jobs during and after World War II; through her college days at Oklahoma Baptist University and her marriage to William (Bill) Gipson Harvey (1925-2008) in 1949; through her years of raising four children (including in Beaver, Oklahoma from 1961 forward), surviving breast cancer, and semi-retiring to Oklahoma City in 1987; and later, through the vicissitudes of later life.

Through it all, she retained a spirit that found the best in any situation or a kind word to say about almost anyone. She studied the Bible through her life; sang hymns both in congregations and in choirs; laughed at Archie Bunker and with Mary Tyler Moore along with everyone else in the 1970s; read voraciously but wished that she could write as well as Jane Austen; walked at a rapid pace befitting the energies that kept her alive and mentally alert for such a long life; traveled the world as an older adult; cheered loudly for the Oklahoma Sooners and OKC Thunder; lit up at the sight of new grandchildren or great grandchildren; and wanted everybody to be kind and love everybody.

Survived by: daughters Gayle McNish and Jan Scott; sons John Harvey and Paul Harvey; son-in-law Don Scott; daughters-in-law Kim Harvey and Susan Nishida Harvey; grandchildren Layne McNish and partner Breannan Smith; Mark Scott and wife Beth; Andrew Scott and wife Lisa; Jessica Brooks and husband Jacob; Chris Harvey and wife Rui; Alex Harvey and wife Chelsea; John Robert Harvey Jr. and wife Laura; great-grandchildren Kamden Elijah and Kai Micah Scott; Charlie Elizabeth and William Jasper Brooks; Ivy Hope, Clara Kim, and John Robert (III) Harvey.

Graveside services will be 2:00 PM, Tuesday, March 17, 2026, at Resurrection Cemetery where she will be laid to rest next to her beloved husband, Bill.