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Gary Vaughn Kieffer, age 71, went to heaven to be with the Lord Jesus Christ on the morning of Thursday, December 2, 2021 due to Covid 19 pneumonia.
Gary was born in Tecumseh on February 13, 1950 to Lester B. and Ruth E. Kieffer and grew up on a farm southeast of Tecumseh where he was nurtured by a loving family.
Gary graduated as valedictorian from Tecumseh High School with the class of 1968. After his graduation, he attended the University of Oklahoma until 1970 at the height of the Viet Nam War when he enlisted in the United States Navy. He became a petty officer, attended school in Great Lakes, Illinois, and became a fire control technician.
Although Gary had many accomplishments in his life, the most important decision he ever made was when he was 20. He gave his life to Jesus Christ who became Gary’s Savior and Lord.
In the fall of 1971, while on leave, Gary met Beverly Reaves. They fell in love and were soon married on March 26, 1972. That spring, Gary was assigned to a destroyer in Norfolk, Virginia, and in the fall of 1972, he was sent to Viet Nam on the U.S.S. Blandy. Toward the end of the war, Gary returned to Virginia and was honorably discharged in November 1974.
Gary and Beverly returned to Tecumseh and Gary continued his studies at the University of Oklahoma where he received a BS degree in electrical engineering in 1976 and began his first job with Mobil Pipeline in Texas.
During the following years, Gary worked for many major oil companies like Houston Natural Gas and Houston Pipeline, Enron, and Sunoco. He developed and completed various projects for these companies, including designing a Scada System for Houston Natural Gas, one of his proudest endeavors.
Gary and wife Beverly have three sons, James Daniel, Philip Andrew, and Christopher London.
Following Gary’s retirement from Sun Oil in Tulsa, he continued doing some consulting work and remained very interested and knowledgeable of new techniques in retrieving oil from old fields.
Gary was a member of several Southern Baptist churches throughout the years wherever he lived. He taught Sunday School and served on various committees. He was very interested in spreading the Gospel through home and foreign missions. For the last few years, he had been a member of Immanuel Baptist Church in Shawnee.
In 2020 for their 49th wedding anniversary, Gary planned a wonderful surprise for Beverly. They flew to New Orleans and traveled by Amtrack’s City of New Orleans train in a sleeping car to Chicago where they spent the day visiting the Shedd Aquarium and seeing the sights. Then they traveled on the Lake Shores Limited train to New York City, spending several days there seeing places like the 911 Memorial, the Empire State Building, and traveling on the Staten Island ferry to see the Statue of Liberty. Then they took the Crescent train back to New Orleans completing their 11-day trip by celebrating their anniversary with a luncheon at Ralph’s on the Park. Sleeping on the trains three nights and seeing the sights in New York, Chicago, and New Orleans and visiting all the cities along the way, including our nation’s capital, was quite an adventure to culminate almost fifty years together.
Gary was preceded in death by his parents, two brothers, James and Floyd, and a sister, Irene.
Survivors are as follows: Gary’s loving wife, Beverly of the home and three sons and wives, James and Vikki Kieffer of Virginia Beach, Phil Kieffer of Tecumseh, and Chris and Beth Kieffer of Tulsa. Four grandchildren, Luca and Sofia Kieffer of Tulsa, and Isabella Kieffer and Korwin Collier of Virginia Beach blessed Gary’s life.
Sisters include Colleen Stover, Pat and husband Otho Montgomery, Charlotte Harrison, Sisters-in-law Anona Kieffer, Earleen Motley and husband Rex and brother-in-law Mark Reaves and wife Caroline and a number of nieces, nephews, relatives and friends.
A memorial service honoring Gary’s life will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday, December 9, 2021 at Immanuel Baptist Church with Dr. Todd Fisher officiating and assisted by Jason Henson
Please join his family in the celebration of Gary’s life either at the service or through Immanuel’s live streaming of the service.
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