Obituary for Tommy Green

Tommy Green

March 23, 1946 – May 12, 2024

Tommy Allen Green, 78, of Ponca City, OK, left this life on May 12, 2024, surrounded by his family to go to that very special place Jesus said He had prepared for Tommy as a born-again believer in Christ. A Celebration of Life Ceremony will be held at 2:00 PM, Friday, May 24, 2024, at Albright United Methodist Church located at 128 S. Palm, in Ponca City. Arrangements are under the direction of Trout Funeral Home & Crematory, 505 W. Grand Ave., Ponca City, OK, 74601.

Tommy was born on March 23, 1946, in Ponca City to Lewis Wesley and Edna Mae (Essary) Green. Tommy attended Jefferson Elementary School in Ponca City and still has close friends who are part of his life that he has known since the first grade there. Tommy attended Ponca City Junior High before there was an East and a West and was involved in many sports activities through those years, such as baseball and golf. He spent many years of his adult life involved in Church Softball games and many golf games. He received the love of the game of golf from his dad, Lewis, and actually won the Club Championship himself in 1972. He was a very good golfer with a 3 handicap and has many longtime golfing friends.

When Tommy began going to Po Hi his sophomore year, his Sunday School teacher, Gordon Stangeland, encouraged him to go out for the wrestling team. He knew that Tommy had a paper route and told him that he could leave practice early every day to go take care of that. Tommy played golf and was on the golf team at Po Hi. He also became Co-Captain of the wrestling team his senior year with his good friend, Bill Osborn. Tommy’s special wrestling coach, Ted Pierce, let Myron Rodrick of the OSU Cowboy wrestling team know about Tommy, and Mr. Roderick offered Tommy a full wrestling scholarship to become a Cowboy. On Tommy’s March 23 birthday in 1968, he won 3rd in the nation at 115 pounds and became an All American as his team also won nationals that year.

Tommy began dating Carol Lansdown as they both had the same Senior English teacher in Miss Carolyn Bagby. It was the first class they had ever had together and the first time they had ever met, even though they were both born in Ponca City and had attended both junior and senior high simultaneously. They were both very proud members of the Po Hi Class of 1964 and have many close and longtime friends from that very special class.

They married on Saturday, August 26,1967 in Ponca City at the Evangelical United Brethren Church. He wore the suit that Mr. Ted Pierce gave him for that wedding ceremony. Tommy was a veteran of the US Army. He received a bachelor’s degree at Oklahoma State in mathematics and graduated from there in 1968. Since Tommy was “red-shirted” his freshman year in wrestling at OSU, he still had yet another year of eligibility as a wrestler, but that was not to be because of the Vietnam War and the draft that all of our classmates were facing at that time. There were still several wrestling supporters who wanted Tommy to go to the Olympics at that same time, but it was not to be.

Tommy had a long career as a Systems Analyst at Conoco in Ponca City, and the Green family spent most of their lives in Ponca City, although they lived in Houston from 1976 until 1981, and have remained life-long residents of their hometown of Ponca City.

After life at Conoco and too many days of just playing golf, Tommy took a job at Oklahoma Corrections Department out of Ponca City as a Probation Supervisor. He enjoyed so much helping people get their lives back together and impacted the many lives he was able to touch through that job.

Tommy and son-in-law, Marty Pettit, along with Carol and Kelly began a Home Church Bible Study which we called Good Plans Ministries. Tommy touched several lives in a special way through his teaching of the Word as that ministry continued to meet in our home from 2008 until now.

Family was always very important to Tommy, and he always put our needs and wants above his own. He also loved all of his pets through the years and will be very much missed by his ARF rescue dog, Zoe. He is survived by his wife, Carol; his daughters Julie and Kelly; son, John T, Green; sons-in-law, Robert Feathers and Marty Pettit; as well as his very special grandsons, Trevor Howard and Tyler Howard. He is also survived by his sister, Louise Green Lemke, a very special niece, Wendy Green McCullough (Mike) of Houston, Texas; nephews, JR Green and Ron Green; and many of his first cousins from the Essary family, including two Ponca City residents, Allen Hardesty and Vickie Hardesty Kinkaid

Tommy was preceded in death by his parents, Lewis and Edna Essary Green; his brothers, Jerry Green and Wesley Green; and nephews, Brian Green, Johnny Green, Del Lemke Jr., and Darrel Lemke.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Hospice of North Central Oklahoma, 445 Fairview Ave, Ponca City, OK 74601 or Good Plans Ministries, 2215 Garden St., Ponca City, OK, 74601. The family wants to give a very special thanks to Hospice of North Central Oklahoma Inc. for their helping us through these past few difficult days.

Source: Trout Funeral Home