Bio

Cressa

February 28, 1939 — August 17, 2025

Cressa Phillene Daum, 86, of Tulsa, Oklahoma passed away on August 17, 2025. She was also known as Kay Riffe and by her stage name Sunny McVale.

Cressa was born to Ava Irene Wilson and Rolland Daum in a Depression-era work camp in Houston, Texas, on February 28, 1939. She was a dreamer, a hopeless romantic, a singer-songwrter, a storyteller, and a woman of exquisite beauty, compassion and down home values. To know her was to witness a life lived on her own terms.

One of her earliest memories was hammering tin cans to support the war effort in the 1940s. As an only child to a single mother, Cressa enjoyed spending her time reading books. As a teenager in Portland, Oregon, she and her mother earned money by picking strawberries. At age 17, after attending secretarial school, she lied about her age and said she was 18, and that’s how she got her job at Luke Air Force Base in Phoenix, Arizona, where she stood shoulder to shoulder with top gun fighter pilots, including the legendary Tuskegee Airmen. In courtrooms, she worked alongside judges as a legal secretary and paralegal. But her real passion was writing and singing country songs. In bars and honky-tonks, she sang her heart out.

In 1959, she relocated to Los Angeles, where she met and later married John Mortimer Riffe, the love of her life. Together, they had two children, Jennifer Kay Riffe (known today as Jessica Tudzin) and John Wilson Riffe.

In 1991, she moved to Tulsa to be closer to her son who was attending Rhema Bible College, training for the ministry. With tenacity, thrift, and an eye for opportunity, she purchased a duplex near downtown Tulsa that needed a lot work. A $10 deposit was all it took to get started. She spent her time painting, repairing, and upgrading, making frequent visits to her neighborhood Home Depot. She then set out to purchase more properties in need of loving care as they became available in her neighborhood. From there, she bloomed a wild and wonderful chapter full of hard work, tenants, mishaps, triumphs, and plenty of stories. She did all this while working as a legal secretary at Hall Estill in downtown Tulsa, while learning once again to drive a car after decades without.

In 2000, she enjoyed working as a crossing guard at Monte Cassino Catholic Elementary School, where the children often brought her cards and small gifts each holiday. Her hobbies included singing karaoke, watching classic movies, and studying her family genealogy, where she discovered a passion for British, Scottish, and Irish history.

Her expression of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ grew more earnest and frequent over her many, later years arriving at its fullest and purest voluntary profession of trust and love for Jesus Christ in her second to last night, around 4 AM, alone with her son John, (who is among the strictest), whom she fully satisfied, filling him with joy that prevented sleep.

Cressa is survived by her daughter, Jessica Tudzin; her son-in-law, Allan Tudzin; son, John Riffe; daughter-in-law, Viena Mae; and grandchildren, Solomon and Twila. She is preceded in death by her parents; her mother-in-law, Eva May Mortimer Riffe; her lifelong best friend, Patricia Anne Lindeman; dear friend Vivian Rogers; and her soul-dog, Willie, whom she absolutely adored.

She was laid to rest under a mature oak tree on August 20, 2025, at Rolling Oaks Memorial Gardens in Jenks, Oklahoma, across the street from the Elementary and Middle schools there.

Dear friends, now we are God’s children. What we will be isn’t completely clear yet. We do know that when Christ appears to us we will be like Him because we will see Him as He is. ~1John 3:2

29 comments

  1. 08-22-2025 5:20am Central Time
    Twenty minutes ago, while rising gently from sleep without alarm, I just had a brief dream about Mom.
    I saw a big, beautiful Monarch butterfly, the kind that migrates to a special place in Mexico for such butterflies. This regal Monarch butterfly was resting on the green, green grass while I admired it. Then a shoed foot stepped on the butterfly to smush it like one would do to the burning remains of a spent cigarette. As the cruel shoe lifted, the butterfly was still there, undisturbed, impervious to the attack, indestructible in its glory. As I admired once again the butterfly’s beauty, a flashback of Mom’s face in her favorite glamor photo appeared for a moment followed by a close-up view of Mom, remarkably beautiful in her pink casket like a gift box for Valentine’s Day, laying among the flowers and teddy bears when I last layed eyes upon her. This regal Monarch butterfly, colored a firey burnt orange-red like her doggie “Willie”, flapping its magnificent wings and hovering before my gaze for a moment, as if to acknowledge me as a witness to this unexpected event, gently flew away, having better things to do.

  2. While reporting Mom’s death to the Social Security Administration I mentioned how we being consoled by the curious coincidences surrounding Mom’s passing that assure us that God is involved and Mom has better things to do now in a better place. The friendly Black woman said, chuckling together, “Oh yes, those are signs alright, and there will be more of them come, lots more.”

    May God bless this dear, friendly woman. Who knows? Maybe she’s the middle-aged daughter of Mom’s new roommate, Eva Mae Brown at her graveside.

  4. Two of the same butterflies floating together over our fence between us as we informed our neighbors about Mom

  5. House flippers across the street started to fix ups on long emptied, dilapidated old house as Mom entered the hospital. The New siding was completed around her funeral with the new paint job being the same exact color scheme Mom put on or house but I painted over a year ago.

  6. Siento mucho la perdida de tu madre querido amigo. Ella siempre se portó bien conmigo y Alex. Mi mamá falleció en noviembre del 2023 y fue un golpe muy duro para mi. Solo me consuela que esté al lado de nuestro padre celestial al igual que tú mamá.

  7. 08-20-2025
    Certain messy next door neighbors (over 30 years!) finally cleaned their yard, tidied up the striped out cars on jack stands, and neatly bagged their grass clippings at the curb for proper pickup. Completely unexpectedly and out of character. No more meth tweakers hanging around there anymore, either. Unusually quiet and still and peaceful there now, FINALLY!

    08-26-2025 10 AM
    I walked by their yard, almost always with dogs barking as I would pass and them barking at their dogs to stop, (over 30 years of this!), but today all five dogs were dead silent as I passed to Mom’s house and then back to mine. I went back too video the phenomenon and will upload soon.

    08-27-2025
    As Mae and I approached the grooviest next door neighbors during our morning walk, their five dogs were again eerily quiet and subdued. Mae video recorded it. As we returned to our home down the street, I looked back to see the same dogs snarling at their other next door neighbor (as they have always done to me these past 30+ years). “No barking!” is what Mom used to say to her dog Willie until he was eventually trained to “knock it off” and stay quiet at night.

  8. Drunks in Mom’s neighborhood park all disappeared leaving the park freshly mowed and cleaned. Aside from a couple scrap charging cables for cell phone left in the park’s grill, the only item under the park’s pergola was a pale blue paperback Bible with slightly charred corners of the pages, as though it has been placed in the grill for burning but had been plucked out from the fire before being consumed. This is all I had been working toward concerning my Mom’s soul and eternal destiny right up until her last day in the flesh.
    [I looked for that Bible again today to take a picture of it, but it was gone, no where to be found, in none of the half-filled trash bins. Maybe the Christian couple that came later, greeting me for no reason in the name of the Lord Jesus, reminding me of Mom’s parents Roland and Ava Daum), maybe they took it with them or it was theirs all along. God only knows.

    “You must show mercy to those whose faith is wavering. 23 Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment.” (Jude 22–23, NLT)

    “You are God’s building.
    10 Because of God’s grace to me, I have laid the foundation like an expert builder. Now others are building on it. But whoever is building on this foundation must be very careful. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ. 12 Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. 13 But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. 14 If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. 15 But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames.” (1 Corinthians 3:9–15, NLT)

  10. A couple travelers in their early thirties, very vocal about their faith in Jesus Christ, totally sober people, were the only homeless people in the park this morning, arriving to greet us in the Lord as Mae and I were leaving during our morning walk. I instantly identified them with Mom’s parents, young Roland and Ava Daum.

  11. 08-24-25 3:23pm
    First day back at work
    While singing along with my theme song for our relationship with our Mom, (and her with us kids), the Hollies song, “She Ain’t Heavy, She’s My Mother” 🙂 Upon entering the Dallas metroplex, traveling south along the US-75 freeway, I directly view and pass a lone roadside cross on my side of the road while singing the phrase, “The road is long…”
    The roadside cross quickly passes to my rear view mirror like a mile marker along my way.

  12. 08-24-2025 Sunday Morning 11:35 AM
    First Baptist Church, downtown Tulsa

    “The preacher is talking about “Do the next right thing”. Talking about changing diaper of an old person, feed the person. Deron Spoo talking about what I did for mom.

    Mom is talking to Deron Spoo [the preacher]
    Yeah, I believe it.
    In my mind, do the next right thing also for Mama [Mae’s mom].

    Now he is talking about do the next right thing with our neighbor. And also the scripture to live a quiet life , to work with our hands, and to love the Lord with all our hearts , mind and soul

    Deron spoo [the preacher] talking about Memorial Service last Monday. Speaking at Memorial service is not easy. This blown me away Babe. deron Spoo is describing you, how it is an honor to do memorial service

    Mom was happy with you [Mom was happy With her son John’s graveside preaching].”

    https://vimeo.com/1112926023?fl=pl&fe=sh

    12:18 PM
    (John, while driving at work, just after stopping to completely clean the windshield)
    “I just saw a big golden butterfly fly up right in front of me without getting hit by my clean windshield.”

  13. This video went viral and made the news the week Mom expressed her final goodbye from this present life. This reminds me of how she waved goodbye to me through the window at the back of the ambulance as it pulled away to take her to the hospital 12 days before her crossing to the other side. It was like she was saying, “It’ll be alright.”

    https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPHGGkgHoRCm3-vdRoI/

  15. 08-25-2025 Springdale, Arkansas
    Traveling westbound on US-412, just before the Pilot truck stop.

    This is my first day back at work diving my regular route since Mom went on to be with the Lord. And I just noticed for the first time a street sign I’ve driven under at least 3 times a week for the last 6 months, (probably over 100 times). The street sign read, “Reiff Street”. The only time that had ever happened to me was a I approached Green Bay, WI, unexpectedly noticed an identified sign reading “Reiff Street” and was informed upon arrival at my destination that my Dad, John M. Riffe, had been hospitalized. And then that very night that he had just died.

    Come to think of it, I wonder if this is somehow a sign that our Dad made it to a good place on the other side along with our Mom. He passed away 21 years ago, (21, as in the game ’21’ also known as ‘Blackjack’, Mom’s favorite and only casino game).

    Dad’s website:
    https://www.johnriffe.com

  16. I just walked in the door for my delivery at United and the guys are doing something I’ve never caught then doing before, watching YouTube instead of working. And as i walked through the door the words were, “Then the funeral …”. The video they happened upon to watch is all about strange and criminal activities at a particular funeral home during Covid. The program story shifted on to something completely unrelated as I finish typing this.

  17. Sunday morning, Mae went to church with the kids while I went to a long day at work. She texted me as the service progressed how it all about resurrection, taking care of old people, changing their diapers, etc, what it’s like to do a funeral service and how Christians are to make it their goal in life to work with their hands, live a quiet life, mind their own business, and be dependent upon no one – the very characteristics or neighbor (and likely cousin) Lori was praising Mom about. They even did a baby dedication and announcements for special events for mothers. As the preacher began his message, the lights went out in the whole auditorium for several minutes with the preacher taken aback, then lights came back on again for several minutes, then the all went back of again. Real Phantom of the Opera stuff, including the playing of the very rare, spooky grand organ built into the 127 year old building. Very funny. Check the video link at bottom.
    (I called William and told him I’ve finally figured out what I’m going to do to him at church if I ever get the chance. Just to totally mess with their heads in a funny way.)

    Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before. 12 Then people who are not believers will respect the way you live, and you will not need to depend on others. (1 Thessalonians 4:11–12, NLT)

    https://vimeo.com/1112926023?fl=pl&fe=vl

  18. Just now, as I finish my workday, one of my four co-workers on the same route as me, finishing her workday just behind me, approached me saying,

    “I’m going through right now what you’re going through right now, my grandmother who was very close to me just died last week, too. ”

    We exchanged a few stories of these experiences we’re having and she said, “Thanks, I really needed to hear this right now. I’m going through a lot.”

  19. The Wednesday, Thursday, Friday before Mom’s passing from this present life, my friend Tom was texting and calling to share his moving experience at the long planned decommissioning of the Navy ship (naval vessel) he served upon (as its maiden crew now honored as “Plank Owners”) just prior to meeting me here in Tulsa over thirty years ago, about the time Mom joined me here in Tulsa, as well. So, Tom and his old crew of fifty former Navy men (like my Dad and his brother Jim) celebrated the decommissioning of their old naval vessel at the same time Mom’s natural body (her vessel, as the Bible calls it) was in process of being decommissioned in the ICU at the hospital down the road from our houses. Tom found himself alone at the top floor of their shared hotel, looking down from above upon all of his former crewmates deron their shared tour of duty during Desert Shield/Storm. The organizers of the decommissioning ceremonies further distinguished Tom by commending him by name, the only person to receive this honor (as if to say, “Well done good and faithful servant”), at the banquet dinner speach by the top, commanding officer (the former Master Chief over the entire US Navy) in attendance among fellow Plank Owners such as Tom.

    Tom later apologized for maybe being a nuisance in the middle of such a critical time in Mom’s life, but we realize now that it was just one more sign that this was the ordained time for Mom’s passing from this life into the next, from her old natural body to her new, supernatural body that God provides through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, that she was receiving from Him her eternal reward with a place of honor.

  20. DATES

    08-18-2025 marks the 18-year anniversary of Mae and I committing ourselves to life together. We’ve always held this date as our most significant and took a brief break from Mom’s intense, recent affairs to go out to dinner alone together to celebrate it. Or work with Mom now completed, we are free to recommitt our energies and time still more to eachother as we travel the road to Christ’s Kingdom from Heaven together as “partners in the grace of life.”

    08-18-2025 also marks the 48-year anniversary of the funeral of Elvis Presley who died two days prior on 08-16-1977. This was a significant event for Mom, mentioning it from time to time over the years since.

    08-19-25 marks the 36 (2 times 18) years anniversary of my coming to Tulsa for a two year Bible college program. Because of Mom following me here, I’ve been here ever since.

    08-20-2025 marks Mom’s burial.

    08-20-2025 marks the 60th birthday of Mom’s best friend’s firstborn son, Steven Lindeman, who grew up like a cousin to me whose birthday is exactly one month before my own, or mothers pregnant at the same time. I’ll turn 60 on the 20 of September coming up.

    08-20-2025 the preacher this Sunday stated that he took his wife out to dinner alone that evening, (as Mae and I had done two nights before), to celebrate the 35-year anniversary of their committing themselves to eachother as Mae and I had done in the 18th, 18 years ago.

  21. Mom loved country music and probably liked Randy Travis. This is the first time I’ve scanned news headlines since Mom’s hospitalization the weeks ago today. This popped up on the first page of foxnews_com, 19th headline in the list.

    Published August 26, 2025 9:00am EDT

    https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/randy-travis-wife-defied-medical-advice-pull-plug-during-country-stars-stroke-recovery-battle

    Randy Travis’ wife defied medical advice to ‘pull the plug’ during country star’s stroke recovery battle
    Hand squeeze and tear convinced Mary Travis her husband wasn’t giving up despite multiple complications.

    Randy Travis’ wife believes there was “never a doubt” in her husband’s head that he would make it through his debilitating stroke, even though doctors advised her to “pull the plug.”

    During an interview with Fox News Digital, Mary described a crucial moment in Travis’ two-and-a-half-year health battle, and that was when doctors told her to end her husband’s life.

    “I think Randy, there was never a doubt in Randy’s mind that he could make it through it. It was that magical moment that I went to his bedside when they said, ‘We need to pull the plug. He’s got too many things going against him at that point.’ He had gotten a staph infection and three other hospital-born bacterial viruses like Serratia, Pseudomonas, one thing after another, and the doctors were just saying, ‘He just doesn’t have the strength to get through this,'” Mary said.

    Mary was told that Travis’ vitals weren’t doing well, his blood cell count was low, and she was told it was time to say goodbye.

    “That’s when I went to him. That was the moment that I knew that Randy Travis was gonna make it because he squeezed my hand and a tear went down his face. And I said, ‘He’s still fighting,'” Mary recalled.

    “And I meant that, and Randy meant it. And I knew at that point in time, because he had every odd in the world against him, and he wasn’t giving up. And I was so encouraged by that, to be honest. He was my inspiration,” Mary said.

    WATCH: Randy Travis’ wife defied medical advice to ‘pull the plug’ during country star’s stroke recovery battle

    Travis’ life-altering stroke occurred in 2013. Prior to his stroke, the musician was hospitalized for congestive heart failure tied to viral cardiomyopathy. …

  22. Went into sporting goods store to get pickleball gear and soccer nets for the kids to get more exercise, and Twila and Mae happened upon some shoes on sale. Just thinking about it. John didn’t want to buy them. (They’re a bit too expensive even while on sale). Suddenly realizing the shoes are the exact shade of pink as Mom’s casket, John said, “Get them!”

    Add picture later

  23. About 45 minutes ago, around 5:30 AM, I had a little dream. I saw a point of light that grew bigger as though approaching it, “go to the light” as they say when people pass from this life to the next. While passing through this light I saw Mom’s contented, smiling face looking into my eyes. She appeared in the various forms I’ve known her: as a young, beautiful woman like the glamor pictures; as the middle-aged woman throughout her time with me in Tulsa; and finally a the dying woman looking into my eyes on her deathbed during her final night in the flesh.

    After relating this to Mae, and going back to sleep, I’m entertaining the idea that this vision foresees my experience when my time comes to pass from this present life, that i will see her again, together in the Better Place.

    One of the wonderful things about these kinds of dream and visions I’ve experienced is that they can be replayed in my mind all over again just by thinking reminiscing any it.

  24. 08-30-2025 Saturday

    7:50 AM 25:39 minutes
    Tom phone called me to tell me that Neal had just called him for the first time in almost a year. Neal’s stuttering was, no surprise, worse than ever, almost impossible to understand. Neal’s stuttering has steadily gotten worse over the 20 years since he’s been diagnosed with a very rare form of Parkinson’s.

    09:44 AM 5:30 minutes
    Neal called me to express his condolences for Mom’s passing. Neal was the clearest speaking I’ve heard him since his Parkinson’s symptoms began many years ago. You’d never think he had a stuttering problem at all, except for a very minor hint of it as he said goodbye. It was as normal as he was before.

    09-03-2025
    As I document now this curious experience, only now do I remember that Mom’s Uncle Roy had a stuttering problem, albeit, not as bad.

  25. I just checked in on Mom’s bank account in person at the nearest branch office. Upon asking for identifying information, the bank teller thought it remarkable that Mom’s birth year, 1939, matched that of her father who had passed away some time ago. She was unusually attentive, a new employee from Ukraine (I had guessed incorrectly France or French Canada).

  28. Earlier in the day, Mae was reminded of the song because some version of it popped up randomly on her (mostly 80s) music playlist. Mae mentioned it to me, remembering how Mom liked the song so much and often requested I sing it for her when doing karaoke. She would then join me, singing it together as a duet. So I took a moment to find this video with clear lyrics of the song to add to our church music singing, without previewing it or anything. We sang it last as we were finishing up, just as you called me in the phone to come over to you for Birthday cake, and there it was, “Happy Birthday Mom”

    I had to back it up a replay it a couple more times to make sure if what I was seeing.

    My first introduction to the dying was when Mom’s dog Willie died in my birthday in 2002. We bought an Elvis gospel CD to cheer ourselves up. This song was an immediate favorite from then onward.

    https://youtu.be/mBADk6dmGMI?si=boVtawwhODUhubrE

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