BILL PARHAM
ADA- Services for Billy Steen Parham are 10:30 a.m. Saturday, September 15, 2007, at First United Methodist Church, Dr. Guy C. Ames III, Dr. George Warren and Dr. Roberto Escamilla will officiate. Burial will precede the memorial service at 9:30 a.m. at Swan Hill Cemetery. The family will receive friends at Criswell Funeral Home from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday evening.
Mr. Parham died on Monday, September 10, 2007 at a Sulphur Veterans Center. He was born May 30, 1921, at Kingfisher, Oklahoma, to Fred L. and Ada Steen Parham. He attended schools in Kingfisher and Dover, and graduated Valedictorian in 1940 from Wagoner High School. He entered Oklahoma A&M College (now OSU) in Stillwater, Oklahoma, to begin working toward a degree in dairy manufacturing. Academic and service fraternities which he was involved with include Epsilon Sigma Phi, Phi Kappa Phi, and Alpha Zeta.
In 1943, his academic career was interrupted by military service in WWII. After campaigns in the Philippines and Okinawa, where he was wounded, he returned a decorated captain in the U.S. Army with two Purple Hearts and two Bronze Stars, among other honors. While recuperating, he met and married his physical therapist, Eloise Dilcher in 1946. He completed his college degree in 1947 and started his career as assistant county agent in Tahlequah, where all four of his children were born. In 1955, he received the Tahlequah Star Citizen Award. He worked for 38 years in Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension Service as Muskogee County agent, and later as Southeast District Director until his retirement in 1986. He continued to be very active in the First United Methodist Church, serving on many committees, and in community service. He was in Kiwanis since 1949, serving as Lieutenant Governor in 1963.
After Eloise's death in 1990, he married Betty Ely in 1991. Together, they continued many community service activities. He delivered Meals on Wheels and worked the concession stand at the Little League Ballpark. He was a longtime member of the Ada Chamber of Commerce, served on the Ada Recycling Coalition, and joined the Ada Business and Professional Women (being a good sport and accompanying his Wife). He was named BPW Person of the Year.
Survivors include, his wife, Betty Ely Parham, of the home; three brothers, Ronald Parham, Muskogee, Richard Parham, Rapid City, SD, and Lloyd Parham, of Oklahoma City; four children, and two stepchildren, Tom Parham, Oklahoma City, Fred Parham, Vacaville, CA, Carolyn Parham Ely, Lewisville, TX, Jim Parham, Perry, Richard Ely, Lewisville, TX, and Steve Ely, Ada; thirteen grandchildren, Mia, Julianne, Brandon, David, Marc, Chris, Lori, Janet, Sharon, Jason, Leighann, Merritt and Carpenter; and seven great-grandchildren, Brittney, Summer, Morgan, Shelby, Samantha, Carter and Xander.
Bill Parham will be remembered as a good husband, father, and grandfather, a disciplined leader, a hard worker, and an example of excellent character and community service.
Bearers are David Ely, Marc Parham, Jason Parham, Richard Ely, Merritt Parham and Carpenter Parham.
The family says those who wish may make memorials to the Methodist Children's Home in Tahlequah, the 96th Infantry Division Memorial Fund or the Boy Scouts of America.
Criswell Funeral Home, Ada