Bill Ward

Billy Don Ward, age 74, died Tuesday at Mercy hospital in Oklahoma City after a long battle with cancer. “Bill” Ward is survived by his brothers Robert Ward of Edmond and Kenneth Ward of Tamaha, Oklahoma. Bill was preceded in death by his sister, Hester Cole of Stigler.

Bill Ward was born on March 2, 1942 in the small rural farming community of Tamaha, near Stigler in Haskell County, Oklahoma to parents Lee and Clora Ward. He graduated from Stigler High School in 1959.

Bill enlisted voluntarily in the Marine Corps in April 1963 during the height of the ground fighting in the Vietnam War. In Vietnam Bill served as a Force Reconnaissance Marine who fought bravely with his fellow Marines in many jungle engagements behind enemy lines. He earned several medals for his actions in the war, including the Purple Heart, Navy Commendation Medal with Combat “V”, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnamese Service Medal, and Good Conduct Medal. Bill Ward was honorably discharged after four and a half years of military service.

After his military service, Bill earned a two-year degree as an air conditioning and refrigeration technician from Oklahoma State University School of Technical Training in Okmulgee. He worked for fifteen years as a plant foreman at Continental Plastics of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City. Later with his brother “Bob”, he built and serviced personal computers in the family-owned Central Computer Store in Edmond from 1993 to 2000.

The discipline and patriotism he learned in the Marine Corp never left him, as friends and family will attest. He was a proud Marine to the very end.