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BILL J. McCONNELL July 9, 1933 " September 27, 2012 Bill J. McConnell was born July 9, 1933 in Middleberg Oklahoma to John McConnell and Mary McGaha McConnell. He passed away Thursday, September 27, 2012, in his home at Choctaw after a long struggle with health problems. He was the youngest of twelve children.
He is preceded in death by his parents, five brothers and six sisters.
He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Shirley Whisenant McConnell of the home and his daughter Kathy McConnell Thomas and her husband Everett Thomas of Choctaw. Two sisters-in-law Laquita Whisenant of Vinita, OK and Syble McConnell of Midwest City, OK also many nephews and nieces and a host of wonderful friends.
Bill loved his big noisy family, especially his mother. His brothers Harley and Frank were his heros. He loved sports and played basketball and football at Choctaw High School. He played on Choctaw"s first football team in 1953. He met Shirley when they both played varsity basketball in high school. He loved Kathy as much as any father could. In 2011 Kathy nominated her parents as one of Oklahoma"s Most Inspiring Couple. He was so proud when they received that award but mostly because it was his daughter that nominated them. He loved God and he loved this church and its people. He served on the Trustees and other committees. He really liked being the head usher. Many times he and Shirley would usher together . It was the practice at the time that the ushers would count the congregation as they took up the offering. Shirley will tell you that when the attendance was down a little, she would have to watch Bill so he would not add a few to the numbers to the count "to keep the pastor from feeling badly".
He was a member of the Masonic Grand Lodge of Oklahoma, A.F. & A.M Nicoma Park Lodge No. 541. He was a Shriner and served as Captain of the Mounted Patrol for many years. He was owner of McConnell Excavating Company for 35 years, but Bill"s Love was in law enforcement. He proudly served as a Reserve Oklahoma County Deputy and Choctaw Mounted Police Officer for over 40 years. During his tenure with the Oklahoma County Mounted Patrol he received two commendations from the U.S. Secret Service for his service in providing security for two U.S. Presidents when they visited Oklahoma City. Those Presidents were Ronald Regan and the first George W. Bush. In 1987 when John Whetsel, who was Choctaw Chief of Police at that time, Decided to add a Mounted Unit to the force, he asked Bill McConnell to head up that unit. Bill served in that capacity from 1987 until his retirement in 2007. During that time Bill has been honored numerous times. He was voted Reserve Officer in 1988, 1997 and 1999 by his fellow officers. In l992 he was honored by the Choctaw Kiwanis with their Award of Excellence for his dedication above and beyond the call of duty at the time when the Choctaw Police Department was undergoing many personnel changes. At 8:00 AM on April 19, 1995 Bill and supervisor Lt. Jeff Newell were headed to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation headquarters with a large amount of confiscated controlled dangerous substance loaded in Bill"s horse trailer. While en route the Oklahoma City bombing occurred. OSBI officials unloaded the CDS and Bill and Lt. Newell returned immediately to Choctaw. By the time they reached police headquarters, the Oklahoma City Police Mounted Unit had requested that Officer McConnell be sent to assist their mounted officers. Bill worked 12-hour shifts every day at the bombing site until the full activation of the National Guard could take over controlling the perimeter. Over the 40 plus years that Bill served his city and county in a volunteer position, he has provided all of his own equipment necessary to do his job. That includes the horses he has trained over the years to work as police officers too. Bill always said his horse did most of the work, especially his beloved "Buddy" who was a well-recognized figure around town and at the schools and parades doing crowd control. During his career Bill and his horse have participated in many search and rescues of children, elderly citizens, etc. But his favorite job was always talking with the people who stopped him when he was on duty at events at the Plaza Shopping Center, Choctaw Creek Park or at the schools. Over the years he has talked with people from all of the United States and several foreign countries who were passing through Choctaw and who have approached him because, they either had never seen an office on a horse before or because he was on a horse they felt comfortable to talk to him. He has had his photo taken by folks such as that and has received notes of appreciation from some of them. Bill would tell you that even though his personal cost of being a Reserve Police Officer over that 40 years span is a considerable amount of money, it has been well worth it because it have him an opportunity to serve and protect his home community and connect with people he cared about. He loved being a police officer and he love the town of Choctaw and the people in it.
Bill loved horses. He grew up on a horse and he raised and trained horses all of his life. In 1995 when he had to have his hip replaced he and Shirley decided to get out of the business of raising minature horses. They donated their little herd of minatures to the Calvary Boys Ranch at Eufaula Oklahoma. He let Shirley keep her two pets, Peaches and Chocolate Chip. In 2004 Peaches had a little colt that became Bill"s joy. He was born on a Sunday afternoon, so they named him Sunday"s Promise. He was born with crooked front legs so bad that he could not stand. He only weighed eleven pounds and was 14 inches tall. The on-call vet wanted to put him down, but Bill would not do it. Bill found a vet that would make braces for that little horse and from that time on Bill was his caregiver. He worked with Sunny and trained him to walk and to love people. Bill had him certified as a therapy horse. Bill and Shirley took Sunny to visit children in schools and churches and to visit assisted living center all over Oklahoma. Bill took so much joy in how people responded to him and Sunny. Bill did that until his health just would not permit him continuing and he hated to give that up. You can sum up Bill McConnell in a five words "he was a good man"
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