Services for Nancy and Earl Adams of El Reno will be held in the Benson Memorial Chapel at 2 p.m. Friday, Jan. 9, with Rev. Mark Watson officiating. Burial will follow in the El Reno Cemetery under the direction of Huber-Benson Funeral Home.
Nancy Jean Adams died Dec. 30, 2025, in Edmond, and her husband, Eldon Earl Adams died Jan. 3, 2026, in Edmond.
They are survived by their son, William Durham of Midwest City.
Longtime El Reno resident Nadine Arvella Harsey died Jan. 2, 2026, in El Reno.
A vigil service for Dean will be held at 6 p.m. Friday, Jan. 16 in the Benson Memorial Chapel with Deacon Louis Nix officiating. Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at St. Joseph Church in Union City on Saturday, Jan. 17 at 1:30 p.m. with Rev. Lance Warren officiating. Burial will follow in St. Joseph Cemetery under the direction of Huber-Benson Funeral Home.
Dean, as she was known to family and friends, was born in Calumet on Feb. 21, 1938, to Herb and Hazel (Haggy) Wartchow.
The City of El Reno has formally appealed to the state’s highest court District Judge Paul Hesse’s ruling that declared El Reno’s annexation of property into its city limits was mostly invalid.
A “petition in error” was filed Dec. 22, 2025, at the Oklahoma Supreme Court in Oklahoma City. A certificate of appeal signed by Office of the Appellate Courts Clerk Selden Jones was filed Dec. 29 in Canadian County District Court.
Editor’s Note: As we move from 2025 to 2026, we'll take a look back at some of the stories that made headlines locally. This is the final installment looking back at the past year. Happy New Year!
September
El Reno’s animal shelter would be made more friendly for its guests after improvements were mapped out.
City officials gathered with members of the Friends of the El Reno Animal Shelter to celebrate the beginning of those improvements.
Funeral services for Geneva Tusing Blue were held Saturday, Jan. 3 at the All-Tribes Baptist Church in Geary with burial in the Geary Cemetery.
Services were under the direction of Huber-Benson Funeral Home.
Geneva died Dec. 28, 2025, at her home in El Reno. She was born Oct. 18, 1949, in Hinton. She was a secretary for the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes in the Farm and Ranch Program and a member of Welch Memorial Baptist Church, Geary.
A feverish second-half rally fell four points short as Okarche High School’s boys basketball team dropped a 97-93 shootout with Class 6A’s Southmoore in the seventh-place game of the 60th Annual Tournament of Champions.
“Even though we got beat, I was pleased with the way we played. I thought we battled two out of three days really well.
“With the physicality of Class 5A and 6A schools, it was obviously better competition than we’ve played in a long time,” said Okarche head coach Aaron West.
El Reno High Schools boys basketball team will kick off a slate of 11 games in the month of January on Tuesday night with a road trip to Midwest City.
Seven of those games are on the road including trips to Anadarko and Shawnee for tournament play.
Hezakiya Satepauhoodle (15), Kason Haydon (3) and Jacob Nichols (5) will be key players for the 3-5 Indians.
Eryn Roman Nose (4), Juliana Thomas (2), Halli Ferguson (5) and Jaida Richardson (25) will play key roles as the 5-3 Indians return to the court Tuesday night in Midwest City.
Like the EHS boys squad, the girls will play 11 dates in the month of January, four of those inside Jenks Simmons Field House.
Born in El Reno, Oklahoma, in 1941, Harvey Phillip Pratt, White Thunder (Vopenonoma’e), often spoke of those who are called to “run toward the fire” and help others who are in danger. In a military and law enforcement career that spanned more than half a century, he resolved to run toward the fire.
