Obituary for William “Bill” Goldsberry

William David Goldsberry

August 17, 1948 – April 12, 2021

William David “Bill” Goldsberry, of Ponca City, OK, went to be with his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ on Monday, April 12, 2021, at Storey Oaks Memory Care in Oklahoma City. He was 72. Arrangements are under the direction of Trout Funeral Home & Crematory, 505 W. Grand Ave, Ponca City, OK 74601.

Bill was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on August 17, 1948. He was the third of four boys born to Loyd Woodrow and Mary Juanita (Siegenthaler) Goldsberry.

Wishing to be nearer to family, the Goldsberry’s soon moved to Muskogee, where Bill attended elementary school at Franklin Grade School and Jr. High at West Jr. High. As a young boy, Bill was involved in Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, attaining the rank of Life Scout. When Bill was ready to start high school, the family once again relocated to Horseheads, New York. After graduating from Horseheads High School, Bill attended Corning Community College were he received his AAS degree in Accounting. Since Bill’s older brothers had returned to Oklahoma to attend OU, he decided to follow in their footsteps.

At OU, Bill completed his formal education graduating with a BBA in Accounting. Since this was during the Viet Nam War era and Bill had an unfavorable draft lottery number, he went door to door submitting his resume to various businesses in the Oklahoma City area. It was fortunate that one of these places was the Conoco plastics plant. He was hired an inventory clerk with the idea of making him a plant accountant. After a while, when the plant accountant’s job had not materialized, he was offered an opportunity to transfer to the Transportation accounting unit in the Controller’s Department in Ponca City. During his career, he worked in various other divisions of the controller’s Department, finally retiring in 2003, after 30 years with the company.

It was while working on the 6th floor of the North Tower that he caught the eye of a certain young lady and in 1982, he and Mary Carolyn Marstellar were married and he gained two sons. Together, the couple was interested in the preservation of Ponca City’s beautiful historic architecture. Bill volunteered and served on the Board of Directors of the Poncan Theater during its restoration phase.

After retirement from Conoco/Phillips, the couple took up flower gardening. During bloom season, their gardens were open for the public to enjoy the irises, day lilies and peonies. Bill also enjoyed teaching Tai Chi classes a First Baptist Church, playing softball and sailing. He was interested in traveling, making trips across the country, coast to coast. He discovered that taking cruises was an easy way to travel with trips through the Panama Canal, Alaska, the Caribbean, a Trans-Atlantic crossing, the British Isles and Australia and New Zealand. His last trip before Alzheimer’s, Disease began to take its toll was to Israel. he enjoyed seeing sits where is Savior had lived His early life.

Bill began regularly attending First Baptist Church after he retired. He soon saw the need to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior, making Him the first priority of his life. Bill lived out his faith, serving at the church and attending many Bible studies. Notice the bumper blocks on the First Baptist Church parking lots. Bill worked several months finding scriptures or phrases from hymns, cutting stencils and painting these so that people walking by could have a word from the Lord.

Bill is survived by: his wife, Carolyn; son, David Marstellar; brothers, James Lloyd, Gary Lee, Robert Dean and his wife Maureen; 2 sisters-in-law and many nieces and nephews.

Preceding him in death are: son, James Albert Marstellar; parents, Loyd and Nita Goldsberry and father and mother-in-law, Albert Louis and Mary Ella Crews.

Funeral services will be Friday, April 16, 2021, at 2:00 PM in the chapel at First Baptist Church, with Pastor Michel Taylor officiating. Viewing will be on Thursday, April 15, 2021, from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM. Face masks are recommended. Burial will follow at Resthaven Memorial Park. Those unable to attend, may attend virtually on the Trout Funeral Home website, www.troutfuneralhome.com and click on the lives stream button after 1:45 PM. Memorial contributions may be made to First Baptist Church, 218 S 6th Street, Ponca City, OK 74601 or Traditions Hospice – Edmond, 14324 N. Western Ave., Edmond, OK 73013.

Source: Trout Funeral Home