Cleta Ortloff

January 12, 1918 - November 25, 2017

Taught English at Spring Woods

Obituary:

Cleta Sharp Ortloff was born on January 12, 1918, in Calera, Oklahoma, and passed away at 99 years of age on November 25th, 2017.  She was one of eleven brothers and sisters who were children of Cleveland and Zora Sharp, two of whom were infants who went to Heaven before the age of two.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband John E. Ortloff, her sisters Lucille, Mozelle, Maurine and Gwen along with brothers Byron, J. T. and Jones.  She was also preceded by an infant daughter, Elizabeth Gayle.

She is survived by her sister, Geraline Auerbach of Denver, CO, as well as two children, Donald John Ortloff of Point Blank, TX, and Joan Rochelle Ortloff Steinhoff of Dallas, TX.  She is also survived by three grandchildren, Eric Steinhoff, Erin Faflik, and Carrie Blankenship, as well as three precious great-grandchildren, Levi, Connor, and two-week-old Blake.

She graduated from high school at the age of 16 as salutatorian of her class in 1934 and from Southeastern Oklahoma State University in 1938.  One of her special memories from her high school years was when she won 3 gold medals in one day in an Interscholastic League contest for the southern Oklahoma district.  She received her Masters degree in English from the University of Tulsa in 1965. 

She began her teaching career in Locust Grove, OK, when she was 20 years old.  In 1941 she was offered and accepted the job of administrative secretary to the controller of Douglas Aircraft in Tulsa where they manufactured B-24s and A-26s. 

While working in Tulsa, she fell in love with John Ortloff, who would be her husband for 64 years. They were married on October 16, 1943, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at Boston Avenue Methodist Church in the Rose Chapel.  They moved to Houston in 1965 where she taught at Spring Woods High School until retiring in 1981 .

Cleta will be buried in Houston next to her husband John at Memorial Oaks Cemetery.

The family asks that contributions be made to the John E. and Cleta Sharp Ortloff Scholarship Fund at Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Durant, OK