Paul Stanley Bickford

Funeral service for Claremore resident Paul Stanley Bickford will be held at 10 am on Monday, January 15, 2018, at First Pentecostal Church of Collinsville. Pastors Don Martin, Kyle Holt, and clergyman Dexter Smith will officiate. Visitation will be from 1-6 pm on Sunday, January 14, at MMS-Payne Funeral Home in Claremore.
Paul passed away at his home in Claremore on Wednesday, January 10, 2018. He was 72 years old. His beloved wife was by his side, as she had been throughout his lengthy illness.
Paul was born March 31, 1945, to Charles and Neta Pearl (Willhoite) Bickford, in Sterling, Kansas. He grew up and attended school in Tiawah, Inola, and Claremore, Oklahoma. Eventually, he met the love of his life, Ruby Nadine Jones, of Chelsea. They married on June 18, 1966, in a Chelsea ceremony. Soon after their first wedding anniversary, they welcomed twins Ronald Ray and Pauletta Kaye to the family on July 4, 1967. When the children were small, he always made sure they had a bike to ride, and often took them and their friends on long bike rides on neighborhood roads. Eventually he presented them each with a brand-new ten-speed.
Paul’s family was of utmost importance to him, and he worked hard all of his adult life to provide for them. For several years he worked as a service manager for Otasco in Claremore. Then he moved his family to Michigan, where he worked for Allegheny Steel. In 1980, the family returned to Oklahoma, settling in the Chelsea area. Stanley continued working , first for Parham Industry, where he worked twenty years. When Parham closed, he worked for Hydro Hoist for a time, then Pratt-Whitney. When Pratt-Whitney closed, he worked for Walmart until health issues forced him to retire.
Paul loved life, and he loved to smile and laugh. He told lots of jokes and one-liners, to anyone who would listen. When anyone would see him coming, they always said, here comes trouble! It was his sense of humor and help from the LORD that got him through many hard times in his life. When a phone conversation would lag for a moment, he would say, that’s how the ball bounces!
He was a talented woodworker who made many beautiful projects. The most memorable of those were the four custom-sized rocking chairs that he made for his four grandsons. He loved spending time in his shop, raising a vegetable garden, and working outdoors. Even when he was on oxygen full-time, he bought a riding mower with a trailer to haul behind so that he could mow and tow his oxygen tank. It worked just fine until the trailer came loose! Paul was a member of the First Pentecostal Church of Collinsville, where he gave everyone, young and old, a hard time. He will be missed by all who knew him.
Family members left to mourn his passing are his wife Ruby, of the home, daughter, Pauletta Smith and husband Dexter, Ron Bickford and wife, Susan, grandchildren, Greg Smith and wife Kristal, Garrett Smith, Brandon Bickford, and Geoffrey Bickford, great-granddaughter, Rowan Smith, mother-in-law, Dorothy Capps, and brothers, LaVan Bickford and wife Lorene, and Joe Bickford and wife Trecia, as well as a host of friends and extended family members.
Paul was preceded in death by his parents, sisters, Cleta, Marie, and Dolly, two infant sisters, and brothers, Leon, Jim, Dean, Leo, Wayne, and Billy.
View and sign Paul’s online tribute at www.mmsfuneralhomes.com .