David Warren Custer
Tough, tender, loving are apt descriptors for Warren Custer, 95, of Hugo, Okla., who passed in his home surrounded by family.
Warren was born at the family home in Grainola, Okla., in 1928 to George Lebeous and Glenn Dorah Custer. He was the youngest of 10 children. As the youngest child, he stayed home and took care of the family and the farm while three of his brothers served in World War II. He loved calf roping, coyote hunting and riding motorcycles, which attributed to his right leg being broken multiple times. Warren graduated from Grainola High School in 1946. He was an avid basketball player and loved poetry.
Warren met the love of his life, Marilyn Jane, in 1956 in Wilcox, Ariz. It was love at first sight.
They met only three times but corresponded through numerous love letters. After a brief, long-distance relationship between Oklahoma and Arizona, they were married on May 19, 1957, in Tucson, Ariz.
Warren and Marilyn started their married life in Shidler, Okla., in an upstairs apartment over a five-car garage. They moved to Dexter, Kan., where they raised their five children until 1972.
While visiting southeastern Oklahoma, his close friend Ray Tucker told him of a ranch for sale south of Hugo on the Red River. After ranching for nine years, he purchased another property north of Hugo and built the home where they live now. Warren and Marilyn have had a ranching operation their entire lives.
He was a devout member of the First Christian Church. While in Kansas, he served on the Dexter School Board. He was a member of the Masonic Lodge for many years in Kansas and Oklahoma.
He was a founding board member of the Red River Co-Op and served on the Choctaw County Memorial Hospital Board. He was very active in the Choctaw County Livestock Board, especially in the years his children were involved in 4-H and FFA.
Warren will always be remembered using a tractor as a bulldozer and a high lift jack as a multi-purpose, which were likely not for its original purpose. We’ll always imagine hearing him say “That’s no step for a stepper” or “suits the hell out me.” And his favorite saying, especially during trying times, was “Illegitimi non carborundum.” We couldn’t have asked for a better role model and will miss him every day. His memory and legacy of love will live on in the hearts of so many. He made every child and grandchild feel like they were the favorite and special. He loved to teach. Everything was always a lesson.
Warren was preceded in death by his father, Leb and mother, Glenn; brothers: Orvile and Jack died in infancy, Harley, Oral, Morris and G.L.; sisters: Laura Harris, Naomi Maze and Ruby Williams; and a son, Tod Edwin Custer, who died at infancy.
He is survived by his wife, Marilyn, of the home; two daughters: Jane Tucker of Finley, Okla., and Gayle Donica of Dickson, Okla.,; three sons: Aaron Custer of Dickson, Clay Custer of Clearwater, Fla., and Joe Custer of Kenefic, Okla.
He is also survived by 13 grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren, and a host of other relatives and great friends.
Visitation will be from 6 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 2, 2023 at the Prater-Lampton-Mills & Coffey Funeral Service in Hugo. Services will be held at 10 a.m. Friday, Nov. 3, 2023 at the First Christian Church, Hugo.
Graveside services will be held at Cedar Creek Cemetery in Cedar Vale, Kan., on Saturday, Nov.
4 at 10:30 a.m.
Memorial gifts in lieu of flowers may be made to: Grainola United Methodist Church, 161 E.
Main Street, Grainola, OK 74652, or Cedar Creek Cemetery, 34550 242nd Road, Cedar Vale, KS 67024.
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