Gwendolyn Zinn

Gwendolyn Gay Groves Zinn departed this life on Saturday, October 27, 2018, just a couple of days short of her 78th birthday. Gay arrived in this world on October 29, 1940, the youngest child and only daughter of Noble Ernest Groves and Frieda Lee Southworth Groves.  Growing up in Cordell, Oklahoma, she excelled at many things and discovered her life- long love of basketball.  A source of great pride from her high school years was her team’s basketball state championship and the honor of being named to the all-state team.  Upon graduation, Gay attended Oklahoma City University, where she was active in and served as vice-president of her sorority, Alpha Chi Omega, before graduating Magna Cum Laude in 1962.  One of her first teaching positions took her to Buffalo, Oklahoma, where she met the love of her life, Archie Verle Zinn, The two married on August 12, 1963.  A couple of years later, Gay and Archie started their family with the arrival of their first son, Joe Rob, followed soon by son, Jeff, and, eventually, a daughter, Julee. Gay spent the next years raising her family, supporting her husband and his farming business, and teaching.  After almost 30 years of teaching language arts and touching many lives at first Buffalo High School and then at Buffalo Elementary School, she retired in 1999.  Her heart grew even larger with the birth of her first grandchild, Taylor, followed by six more, Dylan, Averi, Brady, Layni, Libbi and Carter.  She loved to spoil her grandchildren and used her excellent cooking skills to ensure that everyone always had their favorites to enjoy. She even got to experience the joy of being a great-grandmother with the birth of Amay in the previous year.  The highlight of her later years was attending the sporting events of her grandchildren, with basketball still being her favorite.  Gay never knew a stranger and lived her life with a generous, selfless spirit that made everyone around her feel at home. She is preceded in death by her parents, Noble and Frieda and her brother, Howard.  She is survived by her husband, Archie of the home; children, Joe Zinn of Nashville, Tennessee, Jeff Zinn of Anadarko, Oklahoma, and Julee Levings and husband Travis of Stillwater, Oklahoma; grandchildren, Taylor Zinn, Averi Zinn, Layni Zinn, Libbi Zinn, Dylan Levings, Brady Levings, and Carter Levings; great-grandchild, Amay Zinn; and, numerous extended family members and friends.