Vicki Lee Chritton-Myers

A memorial service for Vicki Lee Chritton-Myers, 66, West Plains, Missouri, will be held at 2:00 p.m., Monday, September 9, 2024, in the Rose Chapel at Robertson-Drago Funeral Home.

Mrs. Myers passed away at 3:17 a.m., Tuesday, September 3, 2024, at Mercy Hospital, Springfield, Missouri.

Vicki was born on May 30, 1958, in Vicenza, Italy, where her parents, Bill and Wanda Chritton, were stationed while he served in the United States Army.  Two years later, the Chritton family returned to the States and lived in several locations during her childhood, including West Plains, Missouri, Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri, Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, Ft. Benning, Georgia, and Ft. Walters, Texas. They moved to Springfield, Virginia in 1970, where Vicki graduated from West Springfield High School in 1976.

From a young age, it became apparent that Vicki was a talented artist.  In high school she excelled in art classes, where she developed great skills in drawing, painting, sculpture, and many other art forms.

Upon graduating, she worked for various companies in the Washington, D.C. area as a graphic artist when her parents, Bill and Wanda, moved back to their hometown of West Plains, Missouri, Vicki soon followed, and became the staff artist for the West Plains Daily Quill.

One night at a local honky-tonk, a tall, dark, handsome man (Vicki said he was the best-looking guy in the place) asked Vicki to dance.  She turned him down, telling him she didn’t “slow dance” with strangers. She married that stranger Ron Myers on March 19th 1983 at the Chritton Farm.

The city girl packed her bags and moved to Thayer, Missouri, where she quickly adapted to rural life. She loved living in the country and had no desire to ever live in a big city again. She enjoyed hunting, fishing and riding horses. When Ron brought home a big buck during deer season one year, Vicki bought an instructional video tape and taught herself how to do taxidermy. She turned her taxidermy hobby into a thriving business, eventually opening Myers Ark Taxidermy. She entered taxidermy competitions all over the country, and won numerous state and national awards.

Vicki and Ron eventually moved to Willow Springs, Missouri and had two sons, Nick and William. They later relocated to Olden, Missouri, where Vicki raised horses, llamas, exotic birds and all sorts of critters.

Her family meant the world to her.  She especially enjoyed game nights at the Chritton house, where the women would take on the men in Catch Phrase and other games (the women usually kicked their rear-ends in Catch Phrase).

In addition to being a talented artist, Vicki was intelligent, funny and quick-witted. She had a beautiful smile and warm heart.  She was down-to-earth, friendly and kind to everyone she met. She was dearly loved and will be greatly missed.

Vicki was preceded in death by her father, Bill Chritton, Jr., her brother, Dan Chritton, and her grandparents Nova and Pearl Weatherford and Bill and Margaret Chritton, Sr.

She is survived by her mother, Wanda (Weatherford) Chritton, West Plains; husband, Ron Myers, West Plains; sons Nicholas Myers, West Plains and William Myers, Springfield, Missouri; grandchildren Jonathan, Tyler, Zoey, Serenity and Raelynn Myers, West Plains; brother Mike Chritton and his wife Sonia, Las Vegas, Nevada; sister Toni (Chritton) Johnson and her husband, Dennis, West Plains.

Burial will be in Mt. Zion Cemetery, Olden, Missouri.  Memorial contributions may be made to Mt. Zion Cemetery and may be left at or mailed to Robertson-Drago Funeral Home, 211 West Main, West Plains, MO  65775.