Lila Gwen Ebarb Venable Özkan Jones

Services for Lila Gwen Ebarb Venable Özkan Jones, 86, of Whitehouse, Texas, will be held on Saturday, August 9, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. at Shiloh Road Church of Christ with Dr. Mark Edge officiating. Burial will follow at White Rose Cemetery in Wills Point, Texas, at 1:00 p.m. Arrangements are under the direction of Stewart Family Funeral Home. Visitation will be held at the church at 9:00 a.m., prior to the service. Lila Özkan Jones died peacefully at her home in Whitehouse, Texas on August 1, 2025, surrounded and cared for by family and caregivers, straight into the arms of Jesus. Lila Gwen Ebarb was born at home on September 10, 1938 near Wills Point, Texas, in the Rocky Point/Board Community, to Curtis Ebarb and Violet Parker Ebarb. She was raised in and around Wills Point and attended Wills Point High School. She was introduced to Donald Theo Venable who became the love of her life and they married on August 14, 1954. Initially making their home in Wills Point, the Army, life, and job promotions separated them for a time and took them to various cities until they finally settled in McKinney, Texas. While Don was serving in Germany, Lila went to business school and became a secretary, enjoying and excelling at her work at the State Hospital in Terrell, until they eventually had children. After that, Lila enjoyed and excelled equally at being a wife, mother, and homemaker. Until she was widowed at the age of 24. They were married 8 1/2 years. Returning to her secretarial work at Terrell State Hospital, now as a widowed mother of two, Lila met and later married, Dr. Avni Doğan Özkan, M.D, on December 14, 1963; a psychiatric resident from Turkey, who captured and captivated her heart. They moved first to Mount Pleasant, Iowa and later settled their family in Grand Rapids, Michigan where she helped him build his lifelong psychiatric practice and raise their family of now five children. They were married 33 years. After the death of her second husband, Lila moved to Whitehouse, Texas to be near three of her five children, five of her grandchildren, both of her brothers, and many of her other relatives. Lila was a member of Shiloh Road Church of Christ in Tyler, Texas, where she met and later married her third love, Clyde Miller Jones. She asked God to give them 5 good years and He blessed them with 15. Lila loved Jesus and was a long time, member of Shiloh Road Church of Christ and was active in a number of ministries there until her health and then COVID, prevented her from attending, but she continued to attend “online” with the help of her daughter, Amy. She loved entertaining her care group, Sunday School Class, or church friends in her home and the “Prime Timers” were “her people”. She was also a member of The Red Hat Society for a time and enjoyed her fellowship there. Lila was a master gardener and much of the time, could be found outside playing in the dirt; either landscaping, planting flowers or growing her own vegetables. Lila also loved birds and birdwatching and even raised chickens in her backyard. She also enjoyed creating things and loved sewing, crocheting, stenciling, ceramics, upholstering and even wall papering and painting when she decided to redecorate a room. She pretty much excelled at everything creative she tried and found pleasure making most of her things and then giving them away. She volunteered or financially supported various Christian ministries and organizations. But raising her family was what Lila considered her greatest handiwork and greatest joy here on this earth. Lila was a sibling of 2, wife of 3, mother of 5, grandmother of 13, and great grandmother of 8, and a daughter of the The King of Kings. Lila was preceded in death by both her parents, 3 husbands (Don, Doğan, and Clyde), 1 brother (Billy Ebarb), 1 sister-in-law (Barbara Ann Ebarb), and 1 stepson (Ken Jones). Lila is survived by her 5 children: Neal Venable and wife Lori, Gay Venable-Brookshire and husband Kirk, Eric Özkan and wife Yvonne, Joy Özkan-Elian and husband Gil, and Amy Özkan; 13 grandchildren: Carla Jo (Venable) Nix and husband Matt, Don Venable and wife Lauren, Ashley (London) Brookshire Borelli and husband Cristiano, Laynē Haughee and husband Jerimiah, Avery Brookshire, Maya Özkan Watts and husband Jade, Tristan Özkan and wife Ellie, Gwynne Özkan, Eden Özkan, Elie Elian Woods and husband Tyler, Themis Elian and husband Rami Chariag, Sofia Elian, and Grace Elian; and 8 great-grandchildren: Sawyer Nix, Layla Nix, Violetta Borelli, Giovanna Borelli, Hawkins Haughee, Hudson Haughee, Harlow Haughee, and Luke Venable; 1 brother Curtis Lynn Ebarb, 3 nephews: Tommy Ebarb and wife Carol, Tracy Ebarb and wife Jacquie, Roland Ebarb and wife Donna, and 1 niece: D’Anne Ebarb, several great nieces and nephews and 4 grandcats. Lila is also survived by her 2 step-children, Jeff Jones and wife Cathy, and Emily Jones; as well as Clyde’s grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Pallbearers will be her 3 grandsons and her 3 grandsons-in-law: Don Venable, Elie Elian Woods, Tristan Özkan, Matt Nix, Cristiano Borelli, and Jerimiah Haughee. The family wishes to thank the wonderful caregivers from Home Instead and Hospice of East Texas, who helped us love and care for our mom as we ushered her home. In lieu of flowers, if desired, memorial donations may be made to Shiloh Road Church of Christ, Christian Homes and Family Services, Christian Women’s Job Corps of Tyler, Habitat For Humanity of East Texas, or Hospice of East Texas.

Lila Gwen Ebarb Venable Özkan Jones

September 10, 1938 - August 1, 2025