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© Strode Funeral
Home Stillwater, Oklahoma May 2014 Lowell D. Bilyeu November 26, 1933 ~ May 21, 2014 Major Lowell D. Bilyeu, 80, loving husband and father passed away at home Wednesday, May 21, 2014. Services are scheduled for 10:00 a.m. Saturday, May 24 at Strode Funeral Home Chapel. Interment will follow at Fairlawn Cemetery. Strode Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. He was born in Stillwater on the 26th day of November 1933 to D.H. and Susan Laura [Knott] Bilyeu. His father worked for Texaco on a seismograph crew and the family moved to many towns in Oklahoma and Texas until he was in the fourth grade. They moved to Salem, Illinois, where he finished elementary school and graduated from Salem Community High School in June 1951. Lowell attended Parks College of Aeronautical Technology for two semesters then transferred to Oklahoma A&M for three years. There, he majored in Engineering, was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity and took Air Force ROTC. Lowell entered the Air Force in 1956. He graduated from Pilot Training and was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in October 1957. He married Alice Adella Redburn on April 19, 1958. Alice and Lowell just recently celebrated their 56th wedding anniversary together at home. Most of Lowell's Air Force assignments were on the West coast with the exception of two years in Newfoundland, Canada and a one year tour in Vietnam. Lowell flew the RF-101 in Vietnam doing photo reconnaissance and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, seven Air Medals and two Air Force Commendation Medals. Even with all the moves, they made the Air Force a twenty-year career. He retired in 1976 at Hamilton AFB, in Novato, California and was presented the Meritorious Service Medal. After retirement from the Air Force, the family moved to Rohnert Park, California. Lowell worked in the lumber and plywood industry for ten years with Boise Cascade Corporation. In October 1989 Lowell and Alice returned to their roots in Stillwater, Oklahoma and settled into retirement. Lowell was preceded in death by his parents and is survived by his wife, Alice of the home; his brother and wife, Dennis and Anita Bilyeu, of Crescent; sister-in-law, Pat Mott and sister and brother-in-law, Ardyth and Woody DuPree of Stillwater; four daughters, Dana Bilyeu of Tulsa, Karen Hopkins of Stillwater, Carol Bilyeu and her husband , Jason Mallinger, of Morrison and Leslie Dady and her husband, Eddy, of Perkins; eight grandchildren, Mathew Bilyeu, Jennifer and Husband Justin Williams, Pamela Mendes, Ashley Bilyeu, Brian Bilyeu, Michelle Hopkins, Audrey Bilyeu and Alyssa Dady; five great-grandchildren, Aiden, Emrie, Nikole, Landry and Cannon as well as many nieces, nephews, and great-nieces and -nephews. The family would like to give a special thanks to the extraordinary care given by the nurses of Judith Karman Hospice, SMC's Infusion Clinic and Westhaven Nursing Home. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be sent to Judith Karman Hospice; P.O. Box 818, Stillwater, OK 74076. Condolences may be emailed to the family and an online obituary may be viewed by visiting www.strodefh.com |
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