Funeral Services for Ernestine Mendenhall, 86, of Lamont, will be at 1:30 p.m., Friday, January 16, 2009, at the First Christian Church in Lamont, Oklahoma, with burial to follow in the Lamont Cemetery in Lamont. The Reverend Jeff McReynolds, Ken Mendenhall, and David Mendenhall will officiate. Arrangements are by the Fairview Funeral Home, Inc.

Visitation will be Thursday, January 15, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at the Fairview Funeral Home, Inc. Visitation in Lamont will be from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. and Friday, January 16, before the service at the First Christian Church in Lamont.

Ernestine Myrtle Brewer Mendenhall was born on November 19, 1922, in Salt Fork, Oklahoma, to E.O. and Myrtle Smalley Brewer. She died Tuesday, January 13, 2009, at Mercy Health Center in Oklahoma City.

Ernestine attended grade school in Salt Fork, Oklahoma, and graduated from Lamont High School in 1940 and Wichita Business College in 1942. Ernestine married her high school sweetheart, Vinton Wade Mendenhall, on June 19, 1942, at her parents' home in Lamont. She worked as a secretary at Boeing Aircraft during WWII, and was a secretary at First National Bank of Stillwater when Vinton returned from the war to finish his degree.

Vinton and Ernestine began their family while in Stillwater, where they had the first of four boys. They had three more boys after they moved to Pawhuska, Oklahoma, following Vinton's graduation from Oklahoma A&M College. Ernestine was a homemaker while her sons were growing up in Pawhuska and Enid. She also worked with Vinton in the family banking business at Kremlin for many years.

After their sons were raised, Vinton and Ernestine moved back to Lamont, where Ernestine spent several years working at State Exchange Bank in Lamont, before she retired.

Ernestine was a devout Christian and a member of the First Christian Church of Lamont, where she taught Sunday school, served on the church board, and was in charge of purchasing books for the church library for many years. Another joy in Ernestine's life was her involvement in the local P.E.O. chapters in Pawhuska, Enid, and Edmond.

Ernestine was preceded in death by her husband, Vinton, and her brother, Gene Brewer.

She is survived by her four sons, Ken and wife Myrlane of Edmond, David and wife Dawn Ann of Fairview, Dean and wife Sherri of Lamont, and Ron and wife Vicki of Lamont; her sister, Aileen Hardwick of Lamont; 10 grandchildren, Melanie and husband Elton, Jay and wife Gina, Meaghan and husband Kendell, Maggie, Wade, Morgan, Bryan, Wesly, Curtis, and Chad; one great grandchild due in June, along with a host of other family and friends.

Memorials may be made to the First Christian Church in Lamont with Fairview Funeral Home acting as custodian.

Condolences may be made at www.fairviewfuneralhomeinc.com