Venita Vinzant

Venita Parsons Vinzant, age 92, a longtime resident of Muskogee, passed away on March 17, 2019. She was born on Oct. 26, 1926, in Mudlark to John and Grace Parsons. She was married to Bill Vinzant, who was sheriff of Muskogee County for 32 years.
A big part of Venita’s life was working in the Democrat party politics at local, state and national levels. She worked side by side with Bill to help him get elected as sheriff. She worked on several national campaigns starting with Harry S. Truman through Bill Clinton. She was a member of the Muskogee County Democrat Women’s Club since 1959. She served two terms as president of the club, three terms as vice-president and one term as treasurer. In 1984, she was the Muskogee County Democrat Woman of the year. Later, in 1996, she was inducted into the Oklahoma Democrat Women’s Hall of Fame. She owned a Merle Norman studio and beauty shop in Stigler for 12 years.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Bill; son, Danny; daughter, Teresa; parents, John and Grace Parsons; seven sisters; one brother; seven brothers-in-law and one sister-in-law.
She is survived by two daughters, Karen Burchfiel and husband, John, of McKinney, Texas and Susan Thomson and husband, Gary, of Muskogee; one sister, Noretta Livesay of Stigler; eight grandchildren; 15 great-grandchildren; three great-great-grandchildren and many nieces and nephews.