Alyssa Schilling Warner

Alyssa Renee Schilling Warner was born in Shattuck, Oklahoma on September 11, 1978. 

Early on, Alyssa developed lifelong passions. She started skiing at age 3, and she treasured family vacations in Durango, Colorado.  She loved skiing with brother Carson and the school friends they would take with them on trips.  She and husband Jeff got daughter Audra on the slopes early on, and they loved Colorado so much that they planned to retire there.

Alyssa also loved dance—especially lyrical ballet.  In 8th through 11th grades, she ran Alyssa’s School of Dance—where she choreographed, kept books, and put on annual recitals for her students.  She earned the title of Teen Miss Dance of Texas from Dance Masters of America.  She performed in The Nutcracker in Woodward and worked as a cast dancer in the musical Will and the Wind, a look at Oklahoma through the eyes of Will Rogers, which toured throughout Texas and Oklahoma.   

A strong work ethic was instilled in Alyssa at a young age. On the ranch, she helped with cattle, built fence, and painted corrals.  While working, she endured the annoyance and bites of deer flies. Alyssa’s exceptional humor shone through when a deer fly landed in her paint tray and died. She wrote “Ode to a Deer Fly” and gave the silver fly to her father on his birthday.

In high school, Alyssa played basketball, ran track, and participated in choir and Academic Bowl. She graduated as valedictorian of Shattuck High in 1997. 

In the summer following graduation, Alyssa won 4th place in the International Science Awards.  This achievement led to her being named a Sir Alexander Fleming Scholar.  Following these achievements, the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation tapped her for membership, and she became a published author with an article appearing in the medical journal Autoimmunity in 1998.

Alyssa’s achievements at Oklahoma State University were stunning. A chemical engineering major, she was a female ambassador for the CEAT student council organization and member of Omicron Delta Kappa. She also chaired The Big Event, the university’s annual community service day.  She was a Homecoming Queen finalist in 2000, and a member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority, where she built lifelong friendships.  In her senior year, she was recognized as a Top 10 Student, and was named the College of Engineering’s Top Graduate in 2002.

After leaving OSU, she began her career with Exxon Mobil in New Orleans, Louisiana. She was also stationed in Santa Barbara, California, and traveled multiple times to Norway and Canada to work on projects.  She then called Houston home before being sent to her most challenging and satisfying assignment in Papua New Guinea, where she worked as Operations Technical Manager and Plant Manager for Exxon’s Liquid Natural Gas plant. 

Throughout her career, Alyssa felt a responsibility to mentor young female engineers. Nowhere was her impact more appreciated than among the native female engineers in Papua New Guinea. They had such love and reverence for Alyssa that they referred to her in their native dialect as “Boss Meri,” or “Girl Boss” during Exxon Mobil’s memorial service for her.

While she excelled at everything she ever undertook, the greatest joy of Alyssa’s life was marrying husband Jeff Warner, a Chevron engineer and former Navy officer, in 2013, and welcoming daughters Audra Bly in 2015 and Laurel Olivia in 2019.  Alyssa was a fiercely devoted mother. Nothing was more important to her than her daughters, and despite her demanding career, she always made time to read to them, take them to the playground, and cuddle with them. She loved texting videos and photos of her girls to her parents and siblings across the miles.

Alyssa is survived by her loving husband Jeff, daughters Audra and Laurel; parents Larry and Nancy Schilling, brother Carson Schilling (Mandy), nephew Curtis and niece Lydia; sister Jamie Fields (Frank), and nephew Matthew Fields (Emily).  She was preceded in death by maternal grandparents Jess and Curtis Moore, aunts Margaret and Bonnie; paternal grandparents Erwin and Berniece Schilling, and nephew Nolan Fields.