Frankie Alena Niday

Frankie “Alena” Niday, age 103, passed away on June 13, 2024, at Monroe Manor in Jay, Oklahoma. She was born near dry creek in Kansas, Oklahoma on June 1, 1921, to her late parents, Frank, and Nola (Graves) Blair.

Alena was the second of six children which included Bob Blair, Chandler Blair, Frank Blair, Tamina Lawson, and Patty McVicar. Attending high school in Kansas, Alena loved to play basketball and stayed busy with her siblings. She continued her studies at Bacone College in Muskogee, Ok. During World War II Alena was drafted to a bullet packing factory until found to be a typist moving her to a secretary position. 

In the mid-40’s with the passing of her mother Alena took her two younger sisters and moved to the California Bay area. Alena met and fell in love with a man named George Niday whom she would marry. They eventually started they own family with the birth of their daughter Carolyn Mineta Niday. Alena was a beautician by trade and owned a successful Beauty Salon in Berkley and Richmond California. George worked as a fireman. 

After the death of her husband George their daughter Carolyn moved to Kansas, Oklahoma to be close to her cousins and family. Alena remained in California for many years staying busy with her Salon. She met her long- time partner Ed Strode, and they moved to Kansas together in 1991. She enjoyed gardening, ballroom dancing, stretching a dollar, hard work along with being an amateur nutritionist and holistic healer which could have contributed to her 103 years. 

In her later years she moved to the family farm in Jay, Ok with her grandson Patrick and his wife and children. She enjoyed spending time with her great grandchildren. One of Alena’s proudest accomplishments was maintaining her independence, for example, mowing her own lawn on the farm until the remarkable age of 96. She truly was one of a kind. Alena was loved by many including her grandchildren and many nieces and nephews. 

Alena was preceded in death by her loving husband George Niday and their daughter Carolyn Crawford, and her second spouse Ed Strode. She is survived by her grandson Patrick Crawford and his wife Beth, son in-law Melvin Crawford, as well as her great-grandchildren: Braden Crawford, Lydia Crawford, and Porter Crawford.