Born on a mildly warm day in Snake Creek, Oklahoma, on October 11, 1931, Fellow (Mack) Pettie and Frank Pettie, Sr. welcomed their sixth child, L.C., into their family. He was one of nine children born to Fellow and Frank. L.C. Pettie, who graced this earth with his kind and giving heart for 81 years, was granted his angel wings on Saturday May 25, 2013.
L.C. and his brothers Howard Lee Gibbs, Frank Jr., Jake, Elmer, Ozell, Otis, Homer and their sister Isabell worked the fields with their mother and father from sun up to sun down. They went to school in the small Methodist church called Pettie’s Chapel down in Snake Creek until a new rock schoolhouse was built in 1939. Then he attended W.T. Vernon School until the 8th grade. From a young age, you could always find L.C. helping someone. He was either helping his mother Fellow nurse his brother Homer back to health or assisting his Uncle Zeke on a project. L.C. was always there to lend a hand. L.C. worked hard and did not mind sharing what he had earned with his siblings, paying for the younger ones to get an education or fixing up an old car so they could get back and forth to the city.
As he grew into manhood, he moved to Illinois and enlisted in the Army in 1951 where he earned the rank of Corporal during the Korean Conflict. After his honorable discharged he went to work for Wilkerson Chevrolet, W.R. Grimshaw Construction, Oklahoma Steel Casting and then into business for himself. The L.C. Pettie Landscaping Company offered jobs to nearly every person living in South Haven and the Doctor Carver Addition. He married Shirley Ann Allston in 1952 and to that marriage on beautiful daughter was born. Candace Diane. They divorced in 1957. He moved back to Tulsa and fell in love with Gwendolyn Shirley Jackson. They married on August 15, 1959 and to that marriage five beautiful girls were born – Carmen, Monique, Felicia, Tonya and Angelique. He became a Deacon at Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church in 1965 and remained a dedicated, faithful and dutiful servant to the Lord and the church until his death.
L.C. is preceded in death by his wife Gwendolyn, his parents Fellow and Frank Pettie, Sr., his brothers Howard, Frank Jr., Jake, Ozell, Elmer and Homer. He leaves to mourn his passing six children, Candace Jackson (LeRoy – Sulphur Springs, TX), Carmen Pettie (Tulsa), Monique Walker (DeSoto, TX), Felicia Jones (Edmond, OK), Tonya Hardridge (Tulsa), Angelique Pettie (Austin, TX); 19 grandchildren, Andrea Hobson, Faith McVay (Will), Terrance Hobson, Elicia Hobson, Curtis Walker, Marce Walker, Gwenicia Pettie-Green (Stephen), Makeya Pettie, Jessica Pettie, Sabrina Ball, Celicia Jones, Jesse Jones, Jr., Justin Jones, J’Lecia Jones, Tiffanie Latimer (Wayne), Lyndon Davis, Danielle Davis, Brittnee Pettie and Jalen Garrett; 15 great-grandchildren; his sister Isabel Pen (late Emerson, Sr.), brother Otis Pettie (Lula), his brother-in-law Rev. Oscar Jackson (Iva), sisters-in-law Ailene Jackson and Sarah Johnson (Merle), his best friend Freddy Cox, all of Tulsa, OK, and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins and longtime friends.