Westview Cemetery
Grady County, Oklahoma

© Duncan Banner
26 March 2006

Oscar Dale Avants

RUSH SPRINGS ~ Oscar Dale Avants, 79, of Rush Springs, passed away Thursday, March 23, 2006, in his home.

Funeral will be at 10:30 a.m. Monday in First United Methodist Church, Marlow, with the Rev. Terry Koehn officiating. Burial will be in Rush Springs Cemetery under direction of Callaway-Smith-Cobb Chapel in Rush Springs.

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© Marlow Review
30 March 2006

Oscar Dale Avants

Oscar Dale Avants, 79, of Rush Springs passed away Thursday, March 23, 2006, at home in Rush Springs.

Services were held Monday, March 27, at the First United Methodist Church in Marlow, with the Rev. Terry Koehn officiating. Burial was in the Rush Springs Cemetery, under the direction of Callaway-Smith-Cobb Chapel in Rush Springs.

Oscar was born Saturday, Nov. 6, 1926, in Lindsay, to Eugene Victor and Ruth Elisa [Casey] Avants.

Oscar received his Bachelor's degree from Southwestern State Collage and received his Master's degree from the University of Oklahoma.

> He served in the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force.

Oscar married Margie Kathryn Sayre on Dec. 19, 1947, in Clinton.

He lived in Kearny, Ariz. before moving to Rush Springs in 1992.

He was a teacher and coach at Max Schott High School, in Colorado and Ray District Schools in Ray, Ariz. He left a lasting impression on many of his students.

Oscar loved watching sports on TV and going fishing. He also loved coaching basketball and after he retired never failed to coach televised games from his recliner. He enjoyed woodworking and made grandfather clocks for each of his four children. He rode horses, played the guitar and sang long- cherished songs with his family. Oscar was a prankster who took every opportunity to catch unassuming bystanders off guard and make them laugh.

He would never refuse a cup of coffee.

A doting grandfather, Oscar took frequent cross-country trips in his RV to visit his children and grandchildren. If someone asked him for a hug he'd jokingly ask them for a quarter.

Oscar was a member of the First United Methodist Church in Marlow.

He was preceded in death by a son, Keith Allen Avants; two grandsons, Jacob Eugene Avants and Ian Ray Mahoney; a great-granddaughter, Liana Rain Jones; his parents.

Survivors include his wife, Margie Kathryn [Sayre] Avants of Rush Springs; two sons and daughter-in-law, Larry Dale and Rena Avants of Tucson, Ariz., Stewart Eugene Avants of Camp Verde, Ariz.; two daughters and son-in-law, Cheryl Ann Harris of Federal Way, Wash. and Denise and Paul Mahoney of Colorado Springs, Colo.; 15 grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; three brothers and sisters-in-law, Gene and Leta Avants of Rush Springs, Lon and Marylin Avants of Rush Springs and John and Carol of Noel, Mo.; and a host of nieces and nephews, cousins and extended family.

Pallbearers were, Wayne Speance, Larry Avants, Stewart Avants, Tyler Harris, Charles Nurse, Keith Vandelist, Chris Prier, Michael Gonzalez, Paul Mahoney, Heath Michael Avants Spence.

Honorary bearers were Kelsey Avants, Jordon Avants Spence, Sidney Spence, Gene Avants and Lon Avants.