Celebration of Life for Wendy Michelle DeIorio, age 44, of Cache, Oklahoma will be at 2:00 p.m., Wednesday, November 4, 2020, at the Church of Christ, 201 North Broadway Avenue, Tipton, Oklahoma with Ken Waugh officiating.  Burial will follow at the Hess Cemetery under the direction of Jackson Funeral Home of Frederick.  Mrs. DeIorio passed away Sunday, November 1, 2020, at her home in rural Cache, Oklahoma.

Wendy Michelle Stafford DeIorio was born on February 28, 1976, a leap year and the bi-centennial year, right away she was marked to be unique.  Joe and Kathryn (Brown) Stafford were hand-picked to be her parents and she became an official member of their family on May 12, 1976.  Wendy often enjoyed celebrating two birthdays a year (a fact that her husband would say didn't necessarily count when it came to buying birthday presents).  She attended Tipton Public Schools until 10 ^th grade and moved with her family to Rush Springs, Oklahoma where she graduated high school in 1994.  Wendy forever considered Tipton "home".

Wendy was graced by becoming a big sister to Joe Calvin "J.C." in 1982.  She clearly would remember listening to the message on her parents answering machine stating that someone had a little boy for them, but they had to be in Denver, Colorado by the following morning.  A whirlwind surrounded her, as family and friends stopped by the house and were left to prepare for the arrival of a little boy.  She would tell you that she wasn't always the best big sister, duct taping her brother to a tree once as a form of babysitting.  While not always being the stellar big sister you read about in novels, Wendy loved J.C.  She was beyond proud of her "baby brother" and the man, husband, and father he became.  She loved his choice in girls and delighted in the phone call while J.C. was in college where he told her he had met "the perfect girl" – he just didn't know her name.  She promptly told him he needed to chase her down and her name and phone number.  The best advice she ever gave him!  Deedee Horton Stafford couldn't have been a better pick for Wendy's little brother.

During her high school career, Wendy excelled at anything involving her first true love, the Oklahoma FFA Blue and Gold.  She actively showed pigs and sheep (an animal species that her father detested).  One of her favorite sheep stories included her father trusting her with a blank check when she accompanied her ag teacher, Justin Kliewer, on a sheep buying expedition.  It was on that trip that Vince McGolden talked her into the best lamb on the property and after happily signing a nearly $500 check, Joe was faced with the reality that a fourteen year old was too young for blank checks; he never again made that mistake.  In addition to showing livestock, Wendy found a passion for public speaking.  That skill would serve her the rest of her life.  She was the second-to-last State FFA Sweetheart in 1991 and served the Oklahoma FFA Association as the 1994-1995 State FFA Secretary.  Wendy worked for the National FFA Association for four years and had the opportunity to travel to nearly every state serving as a professional motivational speaker.  It was during her time with the Oklahoma FFA that she forged lifelong friendships and had a lifetime admiration of what she considered "the great ones"  such as her good friends Travis Beams, Rhett Laubuch, Amy Chastain-Beams, Tara Muggenborg-Burnett, and Holly Vincent Blakey.  She was forever proud of the work and service she gave to both the Oklahoma FFA Association and the National FFA Organization.

Wendy attended college at Oklahoma State University as an agricultural communications and animal science double major.  She also obtained her degree from Cameron University in Organizational Leadership and later obtained her Master's Degree in Educational Leadership.  Wendy would be the first person to tell you that she has always taken the road less traveled.  If there was an easy way to do something, she somehow would select the more difficult path.  She laughed that she always liked a good challenge.  Early on, Wendy was determined not to follow in the family business of education – she always dreamed of becoming a successful writer (then she realized that was a hard way to make a living).  She began a professional career as a radio DJ, again realizing that they made less than zero money.  She once told an employer that "I have sold everything from pigs to caskets" and loved that she could easily relate to so many people from nearly any walk of life.  After trying on all the wrong careers, she called her husband one day and told him that she had made a decision and that was to become a teacher.  In two months, she read over three hundred books and studied nearly eighteen hours a day to obtain her secondary English teaching certificate.  She was determined to finish a one-year program in under two months and she did it!  With her grandmother's watch on – also a lifetime teacher, she joined the team of Cache Middle School in 2013 and became an 8 ^th grade English teacher – focusing on grammar and composition.  It was there she shared great writing lessons learned by one of her favorite teacher, Cliff McCowan, and his love of "Bob" (aka Bob Dylan).  She instantly fell in love with the career choice and never looked back.  Sharing her passion for writing and the love of books would consume her time and she could often be heard telling her students "I'm going to make high school look easy".  Many of her former students would later come to appreciate her weekly five paragraph essay assignments that would prepare them for college.  She considered her students her "kiddos" and would do anything for them.  She loved teaching.  While she didn't have favorites in her classroom, she had several memorable students and would share stories with her family over the years.  Among those memorable students were Beau McArdle, Caleb Hutson, Hattie Kirby, Zac Champlain, Piper Houghton, Lily Robinson, Riley Scott, Michala Owens, Jacksen Ketner, Hailee Wheatlee, Alex Allen, and Bailey Walters.  Her all-time favorite student would be her oldest daughter, Kallie, whom she taught in 8 ^th grade.  In 2018, she switched educational fields and became the Junior High/High School principal at Central High Public Schools.  A job that would once again challenge her to the furthest extent possible.  During that time, she taught two years of high school English to the same group of students who would serve as her rock during the first year battle of breast cancer.  That group lifted her up, carried her, and supported her their senior year and she loved each of them to the fullest part of her heart.

Wendy married Steven Shawn DeIorio in 2001 in Ocho Rios, Jamaica.  She loved telling her "kiddos" the reason why she detested Taco Bell – where they had their first date because Shawn was running late, it was where Shawn proposed, and subsequently where they ate their first honeymoon dinner on the Las Vegas Strip.  In a nearly twenty year love story, she would keep Shawn's books for softball, learned how to drag a softball field, learned that being a coaches wife meant turning a deaf ear to overzealous parents, and would often practice the art of biting her tongue.  She would be found over the years carting one and then two little girls to basketball games across the state, serving as a chaperone on overnight trips and handling fund-raisers for Shawn and his team.  Wendy would quickly agree with Shawn and their girls that she was a horrible housekeeper, but she could cook!  Their living room coffee table, one of Wendy and Shawn's first marital purchases, became their dinner table.  They would sit around that coffee table and share their day, share stories, make fun of each other, and above all else, laugh.  Wendy would tell Shawn he was never to sell that coffee table.  Their marriage wasn't always perfect, but it was theirs.  They were both hard-headed and head-strong people who had to learn that giving a little on both ends meant compromises, not giving in.  Shawn would become her steadfast anchor in the last years as Wendy battled cancer.   They learned quickly that the marriage lines "in sickness and in health" were very real lines and that only the strongest love could handle the toughest battles.  She loved him very much.

The two greatest accomplishment in Wendy's life were the birth of their two daughters, Kallie Suanne and Kynslie Cooper.  Shawn and Wendy were determined to become parents.  Kynslie became Wendy's 13 ^th pregnancy enduring several losses along the way.  She valued her daughters above anything else in this world.  It was always her goal to become a steadfast example of a Christian lady, how to work hard, never give up, and dig deep when life throws the biggest challenges at you.  Her daughters would often joke about their mother's ability to harm herself without even trying.  From shutting her own nose in her car door in college, easily tripping over nearly anything that stood still – including air, to being the only person who could fracture her foot in nine places and brush it off – she had an uncanny ability to hurt herself.  One of Wendy's favorite hobbies including riding roller coasters with her adventurous, quiet observer of life daughter, Kallie.  Wendy loved the young lady Kallie had become, kind and compassionate, and maybe a little bit of her mother's lack of attention while driving.  She loved entertaining her youngest daughter, Kynslie and her artistic and creative style and happily gave up her kitchen table for endless arts and craft endeavors – she would often remark that Kynslie was everything she wished she could have been when young – outspoken and fearless.  Wendy was determined to be a fearless example to her daughters.  Dawning her fabulous red stilettos, she embarked on a battle that she would fight until the very end.

Wendy leaves behind the love of her life, Shawn and their two daughters Kallie Suanne and Kynslie Cooper all of Cache, Oklahoma. Her parents, Joe and Kathy Stafford of Elmer, Oklahoma. Her brother, J.C. Stafford and his wife Deedee of Elmer, Oklahoma. Two nieces and a nephew, Lincoln, Claira, and Millie Stafford.  She is also survived by Shawn's parents, Rick and Susan Cothren.  She was blessed with amazing cousins including James Conrad and his wife Holly of Houston, Texas, Laurie and Jarred Mills of Pryor, Oklahoma, Ashley Preece of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Sam Preece of Colorado, James Gibson of Elgin, Oklahoma.  She also leaves behind her only first-cousin, T.J. Liles-Tims and his wife Macy of Edmond, Oklahoma and their daughters Tev & Rorie.  She would consider Ed Liles her uncle until her passing and would often enjoy conversations with his wife Dana.

She is preceded in death by her grandparents, Oliver and Eva Stafford of Wewoka, Oklahoma; Calvin and Mitzi Brown of Elmer, Oklahoma; great-grandparents Roger and Loris Brown, Estes and Velma McCullough, and JC and Foy Cook.  Her best friend and greatest guardian angel preceded her in death in 2002, Sue Ann Todd of Tipton, Oklahoma.  The two little girls who played Barbies together, showed pigs together, and who were inseparable are now in Heaven telling stories, laughing, and gossiping like they always enjoyed doing – they are together and whole again.  Wendy also leaves behind her amazing teaching staff at Central High Public Schools and over 180 students whom she adored.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations to be made in Wendy's name to the Oklahoma FFA Foundation, American Cancer Society, or to the Tipton's Children Home.  Family and friends are encouraged to bring school supplies so that Wendy may continue to help her "kiddos" long after her celebration of life.

The family will receive friends on Tuesday, November 3, 2020 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Jackson Funeral Home Chapel, 921 West Gladstone Avenue, Frederick, Oklahoma.

The service may be viewed live on Facebook at:  Tipton Church of Christ