07/06/2025
Melva Jean (Karns) Ladd
1927-2025
Melva Jean (Karns) Ladd, 98, of Bethany and Yukon, Oklahoma, passed away on July 3, 2025, at Spanish Cove Retirement Village.
Jean Ladd was born on March 9, 1927, in a farmhouse near Kingsdown, Kansas, to Elmer and Verna (Dawson) Karns. Her early life centered around the nearby town of Ford, Kansas; her later life centered around Bethany, Oklahoma. Jean and her older sister, Colleen, attended the Church of the Nazarene and the public school in Ford, Kansas. Growing up, she lived through scarlet fever, World War II rationing, and the Dust Bowl. Jean graduated from Ford High School in 1944 and in 1948 earned a BS degree in Business Education at Bethany-Peniel College (now Southern Nazarene University) in Bethany. She was high school valedictorian and college marshal. During college she met and later married Forrest E. Ladd, Jr. in 1950.
Jean taught business at public schools in Garden City and Perry, Kansas, and at Miltonvale Wesleyan College in Miltonvale, Kansas. After moving to Bethany in 1955, she became the accountant for the Bethany Book Store, operated by the Nazarene Publishing House, becoming its manager from 1971 to 1994. She was an active part of Bethany Main Street planning and received an alumni award from the SNU School of Business in 2006.
Forrest and Jean were married almost 75 years and raised one daughter, Gwen Ellen (Ladd) Hackler. Jean was a supportive wife, a dedicated and loving mother, and proud “grandma” to nine basset hounds. She was an active member of the Bethany First Church of the Nazarene, where she sponsored a girls’ Caravan troop for several years and served on the missionary council. She and her husband were members of the Felia Sunday School class. She traveled to many cemeteries and libraries in the Midwest for her genealogical research and took trips to Great Britain, Europe, and the Middle East, where she rode a camel. Jean enjoyed working on the computer, organizing paperwork, proofreading, and editing. Forrest and Jean moved to Spanish Cove Retirement Village, Yukon, in 2001. Jean was known for always having what people needed, especially in her trusty handbag.
Family was of central importance to Jean; if you were related to her, worked with her, or went to church with her, you were in her circle of very important people. After retirement, Jean pursued genealogy research almost full-time, investigating and writing the histories of her mother’s (Dawson) family and her father’s (Karns) families, then her husband’s (Stillwell and Ladd) families, and the four grandparent family lines of their ancestors. She and her husband produced over fifty print and digital publications. In the process Jean discovered family lines linking back to England, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, and Scandinavian countries. Their work is summarized for the public on RootsWeb, now part of Ancestry.com at https://homepages.rootsweb.com/~forladd/.
Surviving family members include husband Forrest E. Ladd, Jr. of Yukon, daughter and son-in-law Gwen Ellen (Ladd) Hackler and Donald Raymond Hackler, Jr. of Oklahoma City, two sisters-in law Linda (Ladd) Nicholson Krause and Joan (Ladd) Clark, cousins Garry and Carolyn (Karns) Pate and their family, first cousin Eileen Dawson Rollins, and numerous other Dawson cousins. Preceding her in death were her parents, Elmer Mearkle Karns and Verna Mabel (Dawson) Karns; her sister, Winifred Colleen (Karns) Cornwell and brother-in-law Don E. Cornwell; and many first cousins on both sides of her family, where she had 15 aunts and uncles.
The funeral service will take place on Tuesday, July 8 at 2:00 p.m. at Bethany First Church of the Nazarene, Chapel in the Round, with Dr. Don Dunnington officiating. Interment will follow at Chapel Hill Memorial Gardens, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Flowers may be sent to Mercer-Adams Funeral Service, or memorial donations may be made to Southern Nazarene University in Jean’s memory. Online condolences may be shared at Mercer-Adams Funeral Service.
