Lula "Rene" Goeringer

Lula Irene “Rene” Goeringer, beloved Mother and Grandmother peacefully passed away at her home on December 15, 2024, surrounded by family following a lengthy illness. A Funeral Mass will be at 10:00 a.m. Wednesday, January 8, 2025, at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Stillwater. Burial will follow at Sunset Memorial Gardens in Stillwater. 

Rene was born to John and Estherlee McClure in Tupelo, Mississippi on November 7, 1933. She moved to Ozark, Alabama at age 7 and attended school at Ozark High School.

After graduation, she worked at Fort Rucker in Alabama where she met Elwood “Woody” James Goeringer, and they married in 1958. In 1959 they moved to Stillwater, Oklahoma where they started their family.

Rene became Catholic in 1959 and devoted her life to both St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church and St. John University Parish in Stillwater.

Rene worked as a secretary at OSU prior to starting their family. Once the kids were grown, she went to work for Woody until she became the Office Manager at St. John where she worked for 32 years until her retirement.

Rene loved gardening and nature. She was an avid birdwatcher, camper and loved to fish. In her younger days she enjoyed playing golf, playing bridge and bowling. She also enjoyed making crafts; she and her daughters had craft booths at many of the Stillwater shows. Rene made hundreds of rosaries over the years and donated them all. She provided a safe and nurturing place for comfort and advice. She loved buying toys throughout the year to donate at Christmas for Toys for Tots. She also gave her time and treasure to Birthright of Stillwater.

She will be remembered as a kind, loving, and funny lady with a southern accent. Her sense of humor was fantastic, and she would say things that would make people laugh out loud, but she would have no idea why it was so funny!

She is predeceased by her parents, her husband, her brother Billy McClure, her sisters Pat Bullard and Ruth Brunson, as well as two children, James Christopher and Christi Louise.

She is survived by children Susan Goeringer and Bill Goeringer (Judy); Grandchildren Misty Flowers (Jason), Mequette Yarbrough (Joshua), Todd Hornberger (Whitney), Kelly Goeringer, Will Goeringer and Kate Goeringer; Great grandchildren Daniel Flowers, Liam and Karli Hornberger, and Maddie and J.J. Yarbrough. She is also survived by many other family and friends, too many to name.

The family thanks Kathi and John Walker who came anytime day or night, Patti and Roscoe Wisler for lending a hand when needed, as well as the caregivers at Companion Care who assisted in her last days and the help from the women at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church.

The family welcomes donations to Toys for Tots or to Birthright of Stillwater in lieu of flowers.