Sylvia Caroline Meyerdirk was born September 24, 1931, to Jesse Cates and Lizzie (Carter) Cates in Cushing, Oklahoma. She departed this life on March 6, 2024, in Sanger, Texas, at the age of 92 years.

Sylvia was raised in Cushing. She was part of a large family, the seventh-born child with 9 siblings: nine girls and one boy (including a sister who died in infancy).

She graduated from Cushing High School with the class of 1949. Following high school she received her Bachelors Degree in Education from Oklahoma A&M University. She was united in marriage to Harold Ray "HR" Meyerdirk on April 25, 1953, and to this union three sons, Stephen, Douglas, and Todd, were born. Harold preceded Sylvia in death on January 21, 2022.

The couple made their home in Bartlesville, OK from 1956. Sylvia taught elementary school students there for 30 years. Sylvia loved her students and greatly enjoyed inspiring in them a love of learning.

She was a member of the Bartlesville First Baptist Church where she served actively. She was also part of a larger community of friends and fellow believers in Bartlesville who were like her extended family.

Sylvia is survived by her three sons, Stephen Meyerdirk and wife, Carol Beth, Douglas Meyerdirk and wife, Patti, and Todd Meyerdirk and wife, Beth; twelve grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; two sisters, Rosalie Goins and Opal Gayhart, as well as many other relatives and friends.

In addition to her parents and husband, Sylvia was preceded in death by Vivan Cates (brother), Irene Pack, Kathleen Harrison, Lorene Franklin, Ernestine Pershing, and Juanita Kirkpatrick (sisters).

Funeral services will be held at 2:00 P.M. on Saturday, March 16, 2024, at the Council Valley Baptist Church (19016 E 44th St, Yale, OK). Burial will follow in the Euchee Valley Memorial Park.

In lieu of flowers please consider making a gift to Oklahoma Baptist Homes for Children - OBHC, 3800 N. May Ave., Oklahoma City, OK 73112.