Gerald "GW" William Nottingham

Gerald “Jerry” William Nottingham, aged 83, died May 25th 2016 at home in Tahlequah, OK after a short battle with small cell carcinoma cancer. His two sons and daughter who cared for him in his final month were all close at hand, and helped ease the transition. He was preceded in death, by his wife, Nell Nottingham.

Gerald was a Freemason, an industrial engineer, a rancher, a fisherman, a builder both metaphorically and literally, a wonderful father, and the best grandfather. But titles do not do his legacy justice. A man with many friends and zero enemies. His soul was the epitome of kind.

In his youth, he spent much of his time fishing and floating the Illinois River on river boats he built (and sunk) with his childhood friends and family in Tahlequah. After being drafted into the Army and stationed in Germany post WWII, he moved to Tulsa and worked as an engineer at McDonnell Douglas, retiring after 40 years. He custom built his dream home on Fort Gibson Lake and returned to his youthful passions of fishing, bird hunting, and ranching, before finally coming full circle and retiring to his childhood home of Tahlequah.

He is survived by his two sons, Donnie and Charles Nottingham; daughter, Chris Scott; and brother, Billy Joe Nottingham.

He was a caring, empathetic, kind and endearing man.

Truly a great, and knowledgeable man who embodied the characteristics of the “Greatest Generation”. The world is a little lonelier without him.