Obituary for Bill Bridwell

Bill Duane Bridwell

August 27, 1939 – October 9, 2022

Bill Duane Bridwell passed away at St. John’s Hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma on October 9, 2022. He was born on August 27, 1939, in Lindsay, Oklahoma to Siccola and Seth Bridwell and was the youngest of three children. Bill had many interests as a child, but the thing he loved most was farming and the outdoors-a passion passed on from his father.

Bill attended Lindsay High School and graduated in 1957 as class president, honor roll member, linebacker for the championship-winning football team, and homecoming king, which he was awarded alongside homecoming queen Barbara Diggs. At the time, the two had been dating a year, but she would soon become his wife in a marriage of nearly 64 years.

After graduation, Bill started college at the University of Oklahoma, but soon transferred to Oklahoma State University, where Barbara was attending college. When she moved to Oklahoma City for a job, he transferred to the University of Central Oklahoma (then called Central State University) to be closer to her. That fall, on October 11, 1958, they married. In many ways, they were opposites-but they agreed that they were happiest when they were together.

Bill graduated in May of 1961 with bachelor’s degrees in math and chemistry. In June, he interviewed with Conoco (then called Continental Oil Company) and accepted a position as a chemist in Ponca City. He and Barbara quickly fell in love with the city and never left. The two joined a church and met lifelong friends, and Bill spent time enjoying old hobbies like swimming and boating and new ones like becoming a Boy Scout leader. He also found time to revisit his first love: farming and raising cattle. While working at Conoco-a job he enjoyed and worked with no sick days until his retirement in 1994-he bought his first farm.

Bill was a chemist for 33 years but a farmer for life. It was a passion he enjoyed both alone and alongside his loved ones. That was particularly true with he and Barbara’s three children: Cleve, Angela, and Kim, who grew up joining him at the farm to drive tractors, feed cows, and enjoy the spectacular Oklahoma sunsets. As with all else in his life, Bill was a passionate and involved father-taking on roles as everything from a school board member to a soccer coach (before he’d even seen a soccer match). But there was one place he became involved that stole his heart most: the Opportunity Center.

When Bill and Barbara’s oldest, Cleve, was diagnosed with Down Syndrome, they saw it as a challenge, but never a roadblock. Cleve lived a happy life, and much of that came from his involvement at the Opportunity Center-a local nonprofit supporting people with developmental disabilities. The family saw the beauty and necessity of this organization and became lifelong supporters, from the time Cleve began school there in 1970 and after he passed away in 2015. Bill continuously stayed actively involved, from serving as a longtime board member for the Opportunity Center Foundation to taking clients out to the farm for fishing trips.

Bill’s love of the center and compassion for the clients was exemplary of the person he was in every part of his life. He was proof that you could be farm tough and endlessly kind all at once: Bill was an incredibly hard worker, but perhaps the thing that’s most remembered about him is what a kind and loving person he was, to both strangers and to friends. He would do anything for a good cause-like the residential ramp building projects he regularly worked on in recent years-and would give the shirt off his back to anyone who needed it. He maintained many hobbies, and the ones he loved most were those that he shared with family and friends, from golfing trips to serving as an NOC Regent and Lions Club member. Bill had a vested interest in others: When he asked you a question, it was because he genuinely wanted to know more about you, and you could count on him to check in on you when you needed it. He loved many and loved them hard, but none more than his family.

Bill is survived by his brother, Bob; his sister, Setha Lucero, and her husband, Rudy; his many nieces and nephews; his daughter, Angela Kinsinger, her husband, David, and their children, Abby (and her husband, Will), Alex, and Amelia; his daughter, Kim Stoner, her husband, Steve, and their children, Dillon (and his wife, Bethany), Ally, and Brynn; and his wife, Barbara. They were all in his prayers every night.

A memorial service to celebrate Bill’s life will be held on Saturday, October 15, 2022 at 1 p.m. at Ponca City First United Methodist Church. A viewing will be held on Friday, October 14, 2022 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Trout Funeral Home.

Arrangements are under the direction of Trout Funeral Home & Crematory, 505 W. Grand Ave, Ponca City, OK 74601.

In lieu of flowers, please consider giving to the cause Bill loved most-the Opportunity Center. You can donate online at OPCenterOK.org or by mail to 3007 N. Union Street, Ponca City, OK, 74601.

Source: Trout Funeral Home