OBITUARY
Mother of noted BTW wrestler and Olympian Kenny Monday
The Oklahoma Eagle
Featured Image. Provided
Elizabeth Anne “Lizanne” Pressley Monday passed December 30, 2023. She was born on May 12, 1938, in Tulsa, Okla., to Harriet “Hattie” Mae Ross and Raymond Jefferson Pressley. She stood early out as a gifted, intelligent child. The Monday family lived in the Greenwood community during its golden era. Monday often recalled seeing the ladies of Greenwood strutting down the street in high fashion on the weekends as she shopped for groceries and ran other various errands for her mother. (She was always sure to bring home the right amount of change.) Monday accepted Christ at an early age and living a faith-filled life.
Monday was a proud member of the Booker T. Washington High School Class of 1956. She excelled in her studies and became an honor roll student and cheerleader. An active member of the community, Monday organized talent shows for children and eventually created Lizanne Inc., a modeling agency and cultural arts studio. The business offered everything from Black history and workout classes to self-development and image-building workshops. For years, Monday was also director of the Miss Black Tulsa Pageant. In that role, she mentored and empowered hundreds of young women. She worked at the state level under the tutelage of renown Civil Rights leader Clara Luper.
Monday was a devoted mother to her sons Michael, Jim, and Kenny. All three were accomplished wrestlers and she was a loyal supporter throughout their wrestling careers. Kenny Monday gained particular acclaim as an Olympic gold medalist and three-time All-American wrestler from Oklahoma State University.
Monday also worked for different venues on Greenwood. She was a secretary at the YMCA and Dunbar Elementary School, and the first Black cashier at Safeway. Monday also worked at the Metropolitan Tulsa Urban League, Rockwell International, and as a licensed realtor in Texas and North Carolina.
Monday eventually worked for American Airlines and eventually transferred to Raleigh, N.C., where she lived until her death.
Monday was preceded in death by her parents, Hattie Mae and Raymond, her siblings, Raymond Pressley (Tulsa, Okla.), Robert Pressley (Los Angeles, Calif.), Doris Pressley (Tulsa, Okla.), Mildred Kavanaugh (Palmdale, Calif.), Wilma Bell (Tulsa, Okla.), Betty Jo McMillan (Los Angeles, Calif.), and Joyce Pressley; and her nephews Christopher and Donald Hooks, Dewayne Walker, and John Pressley (Tulsa, Okla.).
She leaves to cherish her memory her siblings; Maybelline “Mae” (Julius) Hooks (Tulsa, Okla.), Ronnie (Valerie) Pressley (Muskogee, Okla.), and three sons, Michael (Sherrie) Monday, Jim Monday (Raleigh, N.C.), and Kenny (Sabrina) Monday, (Baltimore, Md.). She is survived by nine grandchildren: D’Marria Monday and Traci Tecson (Tulsa, Okla.), Latoya Cook (Atlanta, Ga.), Ayren and Aymya Monday (Cincinnati, Ohio), Nicholas Newell (Clayton, N.C.), Sydnee, Kennedy (Baltimore Md.), and Quincy Monday (Princeton, N.J.). Her legacy lives on in her great grandchildren: Adam Price and Abraham Monday, Dwaylan McIntosh, EJ, and TreShaun Tecson (Tulsa, Okla.).
Surviving nieces and nephews mourning her death are Michelle Wiley, Kimberly Mitchell (Tulsa, Okla.), Bryan Wiley (New York City, N.Y.), Matthew Pressley, Roderick Pressley (Los Angeles, Calif.), Alicia Kavanaugh (Palmdale, Calif.), and Roshawn Pressley (Las Vegas, Nev.) along with a host of other relatives and friends.
Elizabeth Anne Monday, “after Four-score and Five Years” peacefully transitioned to eternal rest on Dec. 30, 2023, in Raleigh, N.C.
The services are scheduled for Jan. 16, 2024, at 1 p.m. at Vernon A.M.E. Church, 311 N. Greenwood Ave.
To send a floral arrangement or to plant trees in memory of Elizabeth Anne Monday, see Sympathy Flowers and Gifts.
