Birth: December 21, 1921 Sobol, Pushmataha County, Oklahoma

Died: August 20, 2014 Sobol, Pushmataha County, Oklahoma

Parents:
Almurn Archie Lawless (1897 – 1995)
Leona Hattie Clark Lawless (1902 – 1996)

Spouses:
Mattie Lou Nichols Clymer (1928 – ____)
Lona B Duniho Lawless (1920 – 1988)

Rev. Doyle Kenneth Lawless Sr. went to be with our Lord on Wednesday, August 20, 2014, in Antlers, Oklahoma.

Funeral services will be held Friday, August 22, 2014 at 10am at the First Baptist Church in Antlers, Oklahoma with Rev. Ronald Earl Dummer and Rev. Aaron Reed officiating. Interment will be held Saturday, August 23, 2014 at 11 am at China Spring Cemetery in Waco, Texas.

He was born on December 12, 1921, in Sobol, Oklahoma, to A.A. Lawless Sr. and Leona Clark Lawless. Doyle graduated from Antlers High School in 1939, where he was an outstanding student and a very good basketball player. In 1939, he served in the Civilian Conservation Corps. He and Lona B. Duniho were married on January 11, 1941. By 1940, Doyle had joined the Army. Doyle served on Normandy Beach, France, on D-Day + 3, and served there until Christmas of 1945.
After World War II, Doyle and Lona moved to Irving, Texas. He worked for the Texas Company, now known as Texaco Gas Stations. They joined the Baptist Church in Irving and he started teaching a boys’ Sunday school class. Through that experience Doyle felt called to be a preacher, so the house was sold and they moved to Waco so he could attend Baylor University.  He graduated from Baylor in 1951, and from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1954.
While in Baylor he began his first ministry at the Baptist Church in Billington, Texas. Later, he served as pastor of Oklahoma churches in Grant, Talihina and Atoka. When he was called to preach by the Grace Temple Baptist Church in Waco, Texas, he accepted and served there for 25 years until his retirement in 1987. After his retirement, Doyle served as interim pastor for 5 months at the First Baptist Church in Atoka, Oklahoma. He also preached at many churches in and around Antlers and Southeast Oklahoma for many years as a supply pastor, filling in where needed. Doyle felt honored to be asked to fill these interim and pastoral supply responsibilities.

Doyle and Mattie Clymer were married on October 26, 1991, in her home here in Antlers. They have spent 23 years together in this home. Doyle bought his parents’ home place in Ethel in 1992, where he owned and ran a cattle operation until 2008.
Doyle was well-traveled in retirement. He returned to Normandy Beach, France, in 1994 on the 50th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. Doyle was both humbled and proud when, on this day, French government officials in a moving ceremony in Cannes, France bestowed upon him and other American veterans of Normandy Beach, individual official government medals in appreciation for helping to liberate the French people. Doyle and Mattie also traveled to Russia, England, the Carribean, the Panama Canal and the French West Indies, as well as Alaska and Costa Rica.

Doyle is preceded in death by his parents; his first wife of 46 years, Lona B. Lawless; sisters: Lois and husband, Lewis Duniho, Sybill and husband, Wilmer Dummer; and brother, Wayne and wife, Serena Lawless.

Doyle is survived by his wife, Mattie Clymer Lawless; sons: Doyle Lawless Jr. and wife, Shirley, and James Lawless; grandchildren: Jennifer and husband, Russell Grimm, Justin Lawless and wife, Tara, Jeffrey Lawless ad wife, Angelique; great- grandchildren: Zachry and Zane Grimm, Colton and Addison Lawless; brother, A.A. Lawless Jr., and wife, Patsy; also stepsons, Dr. Wm Edward Clymer, Dr. Eric K. Clymer and Jeffrey N. Clymer and their families. Also surviving are many loving and caring nephews, nieces, family and friends.

2 Timothy 4:7: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”