OK Obits

© Alva Review-Courier
Submitted by: Glenn

Thank You For Your Service!

Ottie Ray Savely

May 10, 1935 ~ January 27, 2019

Ottie Ray, son of Benjamin and Mary Mahala (Province) Savely, was born May 10, 1935, and passed away January 27, 2019. Ottie lived nearly all his life in Freedom, Oklahoma, and graduated with the class of 1954. In 1957 he was drafted and served two years in the Army where he trained as a helicopter mechanic and served as crew chief on H-19 helicopters with the 82nd Medical Detachment Helicopter Ambulance. He was honorably discharged in 1959 and then served six more years with the 45th Oklahoma Artillery. In 1962 he was united in marriage to Judy Ann Wilshire to whom he was wed for nearly 50 years. Although they never had children, they were instrumental in helping to raise many.

Ottie dedicated himself to the Freedom community, serving as the mayor and a member of the city council as well as assisting in the establishment of the Freedom Ambulance, the Freedom Volunteer Fire Dept and bringing rural water to the town of Freedom. He was self-employed as a butcher for 20 years as an employee and later as the owner/operator of the Freedom Locker. He spent decades preparing hamburgers in the north stands at the Freedom Rodeo and in 2013 was the Honored Old Cowhand. During his second career, he spent 20 years as a maintenance worker and bus driver for Freedom School – just like his father before him. Ottie was a true outdoorsman and was fond of telling others that he hunted in the winter and fished in the summer.

Ottie is survived by his brother, Bill Savely and two nieces, Belinda Burton-Garinger and Dianne DeBenedictis as well as countless friends, old hunting buddies and "the boys."

Memorial services will be at 11 a.m. on Thursday, January 31, 2019, at the Freedom First Christian Church with Pastor Mark Kinkel officiating. The family requests that memorial contributions be made to the Freedom Ambulance Service in care of the Bank of Freedom. 

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