DUNCAN — Dec. 31, 1914 — Dec. 21, 2010
Elbert G. "Gates" McPhail II, 95, of Duncan, died on Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2010, in Duncan.
Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. on Monday at First Baptist Church Auditorium. Interment will follow at Duncan Cemetery under the direction of Don Grantham Funeral Home.
The family will receive friends at the home, 3310 N. Highway 81, Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m.
God loved us so much he gave us our earthly fathers to exemplify love and character. We are blessed when we experience God's faithfulness, goodness, and mercy through them. When our dads accept us unconditionally and encourage us to be all we are created to be, we are blessed. In God's arms we find comfort, peace, and hope. Our earthly father blessed us all with those same gifts in his loving arms.
Elbert Gates McPhail II was never one to sit. He was a man with purpose: from hunting, fishing and trapping as a young boy, to riding the rails in the Great Depression, to motor cycles in the 1970's.
He was born Thursday, Dec. 31, 1914, in Comanche, the son of Elbert Gates I and Bertha Frances (Brewer) McPhail. He married Clyte Peck and she preceded him in death. He married Loretta C. Prater on May 19, 1945 at Walters, Okla. and she preceded him in death on July 16, 2000.
As a teenager he worked in the Comanche Ice Plant and Dr. Pepper Bottling Works. He then began his career at Halliburton in the 1930s as a machinist, ending with a tenure of 38-1/2 years as gauge room supervisor. He worked the midnight shift to allow time in the day to construct a shop and house, and to care for his children. Some midnights he was met at home by a broken well pump that required pulling right then if the family was to have water. He cut wood to keep the fireplace going all winter for heat, and for several years he raised a cow to provide milk.
He built every structure on his home place north of Duncan. He engineered much more than that. He hand dug a 5' x 65' well to provide more water for his family. (This involved dynamite and his teenagers. What adventures! We had THE BEST fireworks.) Gates and his children, Mac and Fran, deconstructed half of the original Plato School to salvage the lumber to build a work shop and house addition.
He and, his wife Loretta four-wheeled all over southern Colorado. They square danced across Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado and managed square dance barns at Fun Valley in South Fork, Colorado and in Mesa, AZ. He taught Sunday School, and mowed baseball fields to earn extra cash. He walked to town when gas and cash were not to be found. He pulled many people out of snow drifts and mud holes with his trusty four-wheel drive vehicles, and often ministered to the wayfaring soul broken down or lost or wrecked on Highway 81 in front of their house.
In his 90s, Gates, his nephew, Devon Douglas and Fran built 1-1/2 miles of fence around their ranch. This yielded beautiful bon fires, bruises and bonding.
Gates did not know a stranger. He was man full of adventure and therefore a man with wonderful stories to tell, be they about Tarzan in the jungle for his children, or fish tales for his buddies. He was a raconteur extraordinaire. He provided for this family in every way he knew how: most importantly by example, by character, by hard work.
"And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord...and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left." 2 Kings 22:2.
When he prepared to leave the house, he voiced that he had checked for "money, marbles, chalk, fish hook, line and cork." He did not actually carry these items, but he was always prepared. His Bronco carried survival equipment needed in any emergency. And he carried the attitude of never quitting and self-motivation. When Loretta passed, the first morning in his quiet time with the Lord, he committed to live independently, to continue to be the best the Lord would have him be for his service to the Lord, to his family and to his friends. But most importantly this man of God was prepared to go home to be with his heavenly father because early in his life he accepted Jesus Christ as his personal savior...and he lived his life accordingly. He was a man of morals, values, and ethics, who set the bar for his family. He stood fast in the Lord.
C.S. Lewis captured the concept of eternity on the last page of the Chronicles of Narnia, his seven-book children's fiction series: "For us this is the end of all the stories. ...But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world...had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story, which no one on earth has read, which goes on forever and in which every chapter is better than the one before."
"Your time on earth is not the complete story of your life. You must wait until heaven for the rest of the chapters. It takes faith to live on earth as a foreigner. ...Remember that you are not home yet. At death you won't leave home - you'll go home." (Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren)
He directed us to "Carry on."
He is home now.
LET THE CELEBRATION BEGIN!
Survivors include a son, Gates McPhail III of Leveland, Texas, a daughter, Fran Ryan and husband David of Oklahoma City, seven grandchildren: Shanon Anne Garvin Moore, Shonna Lynn McPhail Calaway, Dana MacKenzie Garvin, Misty McPhail Tolbert, David Gates Oden, Jeff Ryan and Kelly Ryan and ten great grandchildren: Dalton Calaway, Bryson Calaway, Jaxon Tolbert, Karson Calaway, Autumn Tolbert, Zac Moore, Ashton Moore, Rufie Ryan, Brooks Ryan and Hadley Ryan and numerous cousins including a special cousin, Devon Douglas.
He was also preceded in death by his parents, two sisters, Martha Douglas and Frances Ireland, two brothers, Preston McPhail and Arthur Miles McPhail, by a daughter, Gata Sue and a son, David.
Pallbearers will be: Devon Douglas, Gerald Marler, J.J. Bell, Ed Wedig, Claud Cook and Virgil Strickland.
Honorary bearers are: Jackie Marler, Pat Flippen, Ruth Howard, Shirley Bell, Barbara Wedig, Jeanne Douglas and Silvia Ray.
In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to: Live Strong/Prostate Cancer Research/Lance Armstrong Foundation; Nat'l Mail Processing Center; P.O. Box 6002; Albert Lea, MN 56007-6002; online - LIVESTRONG.org; via phone: 512-236-8820.
Online condolences may be made to the family at: www.granthamfuneralhomes.com.
Elbert G. "Gates" McPhail II, 95, of Duncan, died on Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2010, in Duncan.
Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. on Monday at First Baptist Church Auditorium. Interment will follow at Duncan Cemetery under the direction of Don Grantham Funeral Home.
The family will receive friends at the home, 3310 N. Highway 81, Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m.
God loved us so much he gave us our earthly fathers to exemplify love and character. We are blessed when we experience God's faithfulness, goodness, and mercy through them. When our dads accept us unconditionally and encourage us to be all we are created to be, we are blessed. In God's arms we find comfort, peace, and hope. Our earthly father blessed us all with those same gifts in his loving arms.
Elbert Gates McPhail II was never one to sit. He was a man with purpose: from hunting, fishing and trapping as a young boy, to riding the rails in the Great Depression, to motor cycles in the 1970's.
He was born Thursday, Dec. 31, 1914, in Comanche, the son of Elbert Gates I and Bertha Frances (Brewer) McPhail. He married Clyte Peck and she preceded him in death. He married Loretta C. Prater on May 19, 1945 at Walters, Okla. and she preceded him in death on July 16, 2000.
As a teenager he worked in the Comanche Ice Plant and Dr. Pepper Bottling Works. He then began his career at Halliburton in the 1930s as a machinist, ending with a tenure of 38-1/2 years as gauge room supervisor. He worked the midnight shift to allow time in the day to construct a shop and house, and to care for his children. Some midnights he was met at home by a broken well pump that required pulling right then if the family was to have water. He cut wood to keep the fireplace going all winter for heat, and for several years he raised a cow to provide milk.
He built every structure on his home place north of Duncan. He engineered much more than that. He hand dug a 5' x 65' well to provide more water for his family. (This involved dynamite and his teenagers. What adventures! We had THE BEST fireworks.) Gates and his children, Mac and Fran, deconstructed half of the original Plato School to salvage the lumber to build a work shop and house addition.
He and, his wife Loretta four-wheeled all over southern Colorado. They square danced across Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado and managed square dance barns at Fun Valley in South Fork, Colorado and in Mesa, AZ. He taught Sunday School, and mowed baseball fields to earn extra cash. He walked to town when gas and cash were not to be found. He pulled many people out of snow drifts and mud holes with his trusty four-wheel drive vehicles, and often ministered to the wayfaring soul broken down or lost or wrecked on Highway 81 in front of their house.
In his 90s, Gates, his nephew, Devon Douglas and Fran built 1-1/2 miles of fence around their ranch. This yielded beautiful bon fires, bruises and bonding.
Gates did not know a stranger. He was man full of adventure and therefore a man with wonderful stories to tell, be they about Tarzan in the jungle for his children, or fish tales for his buddies. He was a raconteur extraordinaire. He provided for this family in every way he knew how: most importantly by example, by character, by hard work.
"And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord...and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left." 2 Kings 22:2.
When he prepared to leave the house, he voiced that he had checked for "money, marbles, chalk, fish hook, line and cork." He did not actually carry these items, but he was always prepared. His Bronco carried survival equipment needed in any emergency. And he carried the attitude of never quitting and self-motivation. When Loretta passed, the first morning in his quiet time with the Lord, he committed to live independently, to continue to be the best the Lord would have him be for his service to the Lord, to his family and to his friends. But most importantly this man of God was prepared to go home to be with his heavenly father because early in his life he accepted Jesus Christ as his personal savior...and he lived his life accordingly. He was a man of morals, values, and ethics, who set the bar for his family. He stood fast in the Lord.
C.S. Lewis captured the concept of eternity on the last page of the Chronicles of Narnia, his seven-book children's fiction series: "For us this is the end of all the stories. ...But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world...had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story, which no one on earth has read, which goes on forever and in which every chapter is better than the one before."
"Your time on earth is not the complete story of your life. You must wait until heaven for the rest of the chapters. It takes faith to live on earth as a foreigner. ...Remember that you are not home yet. At death you won't leave home - you'll go home." (Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren)
He directed us to "Carry on."
He is home now.
LET THE CELEBRATION BEGIN!
Survivors include a son, Gates McPhail III of Leveland, Texas, a daughter, Fran Ryan and husband David of Oklahoma City, seven grandchildren: Shanon Anne Garvin Moore, Shonna Lynn McPhail Calaway, Dana MacKenzie Garvin, Misty McPhail Tolbert, David Gates Oden, Jeff Ryan and Kelly Ryan and ten great grandchildren: Dalton Calaway, Bryson Calaway, Jaxon Tolbert, Karson Calaway, Autumn Tolbert, Zac Moore, Ashton Moore, Rufie Ryan, Brooks Ryan and Hadley Ryan and numerous cousins including a special cousin, Devon Douglas.
He was also preceded in death by his parents, two sisters, Martha Douglas and Frances Ireland, two brothers, Preston McPhail and Arthur Miles McPhail, by a daughter, Gata Sue and a son, David.
Pallbearers will be: Devon Douglas, Gerald Marler, J.J. Bell, Ed Wedig, Claud Cook and Virgil Strickland.
Honorary bearers are: Jackie Marler, Pat Flippen, Ruth Howard, Shirley Bell, Barbara Wedig, Jeanne Douglas and Silvia Ray.
In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to: Live Strong/Prostate Cancer Research/Lance Armstrong Foundation; Nat'l Mail Processing Center; P.O. Box 6002; Albert Lea, MN 56007-6002; online - LIVESTRONG.org; via phone: 512-236-8820.
Online condolences may be made to the family at: www.granthamfuneralhomes.com.
DUNCAN — Dec. 31, 1914 — Dec. 21, 2010
Elbert G. "Gates" McPhail II, 95, of Duncan, died on Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2010, in Duncan.
Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. on Monday at First Baptist Church Auditorium. Interment will follow at Duncan Cemetery under the direction of Don Grantham Funeral Home.
The family will receive friends at the home, 3310 N. Highway 81, Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m.
God loved us so much he gave us our earthly fathers to exemplify love and character. We are blessed when we experience God's faithfulness, goodness, and mercy through them. When our dads accept us unconditionally and encourage us to be all we are created to be, we are blessed. In God's arms we find comfort, peace, and hope. Our earthly father blessed us all with those same gifts in his loving arms.
Elbert Gates McPhail II was never one to sit. He was a man with purpose: from hunting, fishing and trapping as a young boy, to riding the rails in the Great Depression, to motor cycles in the 1970's.
He was born Thursday, Dec. 31, 1914, in Comanche, the son of Elbert Gates I and Bertha Frances (Brewer) McPhail. He married Clyte Peck and she preceded him in death. He married Loretta C. Prater on May 19, 1945 at Walters, Okla. and she preceded him in death on July 16, 2000.
As a teenager he worked in the Comanche Ice Plant and Dr. Pepper Bottling Works. He then began his career at Halliburton in the 1930s as a machinist, ending with a tenure of 38-1/2 years as gauge room supervisor. He worked the midnight shift to allow time in the day to construct a shop and house, and to care for his children. Some midnights he was met at home by a broken well pump that required pulling right then if the family was to have water. He cut wood to keep the fireplace going all winter for heat, and for several years he raised a cow to provide milk.
He built every structure on his home place north of Duncan. He engineered much more than that. He hand dug a 5' x 65' well to provide more water for his family. (This involved dynamite and his teenagers. What adventures! We had THE BEST fireworks.) Gates and his children, Mac and Fran, deconstructed half of the original Plato School to salvage the lumber to build a work shop and house addition.
He and, his wife Loretta four-wheeled all over southern Colorado. They square danced across Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado and managed square dance barns at Fun Valley in South Fork, Colorado and in Mesa, AZ. He taught Sunday School, and mowed baseball fields to earn extra cash. He walked to town when gas and cash were not to be found. He pulled many people out of snow drifts and mud holes with his trusty four-wheel drive vehicles, and often ministered to the wayfaring soul broken down or lost or wrecked on Highway 81 in front of their house.
In his 90s, Gates, his nephew, Devon Douglas and Fran built 1-1/2 miles of fence around their ranch. This yielded beautiful bon fires, bruises and bonding.
Gates did not know a stranger. He was man full of adventure and therefore a man with wonderful stories to tell, be they about Tarzan in the jungle for his children, or fish tales for his buddies. He was a raconteur extraordinaire. He provided for this family in every way he knew how: most importantly by example, by character, by hard work.
"And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord...and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left." 2 Kings 22:2.
When he prepared to leave the house, he voiced that he had checked for "money, marbles, chalk, fish hook, line and cork." He did not actually carry these items, but he was always prepared. His Bronco carried survival equipment needed in any emergency. And he carried the attitude of never quitting and self-motivation. When Loretta passed, the first morning in his quiet time with the Lord, he committed to live independently, to continue to be the best the Lord would have him be for his service to the Lord, to his family and to his friends. But most importantly this man of God was prepared to go home to be with his heavenly father because early in his life he accepted Jesus Christ as his personal savior...and he lived his life accordingly. He was a man of morals, values, and ethics, who set the bar for his family. He stood fast in the Lord.
C.S. Lewis captured the concept of eternity on the last page of the Chronicles of Narnia, his seven-book children's fiction series: "For us this is the end of all the stories. ...But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world...had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story, which no one on earth has read, which goes on forever and in which every chapter is better than the one before."
"Your time on earth is not the complete story of your life. You must wait until heaven for the rest of the chapters. It takes faith to live on earth as a foreigner. ...Remember that you are not home yet. At death you won't leave home - you'll go home." (Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren)
He directed us to "Carry on."
He is home now.
LET THE CELEBRATION BEGIN!
Survivors include a son, Gates McPhail III of Leveland, Texas, a daughter, Fran Ryan and husband David of Oklahoma City, seven grandchildren: Shanon Anne Garvin Moore, Shonna Lynn McPhail Calaway, Dana MacKenzie Garvin, Misty McPhail Tolbert, David Gates Oden, Jeff Ryan and Kelly Ryan and ten great grandchildren: Dalton Calaway, Bryson Calaway, Jaxon Tolbert, Karson Calaway, Autumn Tolbert, Zac Moore, Ashton Moore, Rufie Ryan, Brooks Ryan and Hadley Ryan and numerous cousins including a special cousin, Devon Douglas.
He was also preceded in death by his parents, two sisters, Martha Douglas and Frances Ireland, two brothers, Preston McPhail and Arthur Miles McPhail, by a daughter, Gata Sue and a son, David.
Pallbearers will be: Devon Douglas, Gerald Marler, J.J. Bell, Ed Wedig, Claud Cook and Virgil Strickland.
Honorary bearers are: Jackie Marler, Pat Flippen, Ruth Howard, Shirley Bell, Barbara Wedig, Jeanne Douglas and Silvia Ray.
In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to: Live Strong/Prostate Cancer Research/Lance Armstrong Foundation; Nat'l Mail Processing Center; P.O. Box 6002; Albert Lea, MN 56007-6002; online - LIVESTRONG.org; via phone: 512-236-8820.
Online condolences may be made to the family at: www.granthamfuneralhomes.com.
Elbert G. "Gates" McPhail II, 95, of Duncan, died on Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2010, in Duncan.
Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. on Monday at First Baptist Church Auditorium. Interment will follow at Duncan Cemetery under the direction of Don Grantham Funeral Home.
The family will receive friends at the home, 3310 N. Highway 81, Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m.
God loved us so much he gave us our earthly fathers to exemplify love and character. We are blessed when we experience God's faithfulness, goodness, and mercy through them. When our dads accept us unconditionally and encourage us to be all we are created to be, we are blessed. In God's arms we find comfort, peace, and hope. Our earthly father blessed us all with those same gifts in his loving arms.
Elbert Gates McPhail II was never one to sit. He was a man with purpose: from hunting, fishing and trapping as a young boy, to riding the rails in the Great Depression, to motor cycles in the 1970's.
He was born Thursday, Dec. 31, 1914, in Comanche, the son of Elbert Gates I and Bertha Frances (Brewer) McPhail. He married Clyte Peck and she preceded him in death. He married Loretta C. Prater on May 19, 1945 at Walters, Okla. and she preceded him in death on July 16, 2000.
As a teenager he worked in the Comanche Ice Plant and Dr. Pepper Bottling Works. He then began his career at Halliburton in the 1930s as a machinist, ending with a tenure of 38-1/2 years as gauge room supervisor. He worked the midnight shift to allow time in the day to construct a shop and house, and to care for his children. Some midnights he was met at home by a broken well pump that required pulling right then if the family was to have water. He cut wood to keep the fireplace going all winter for heat, and for several years he raised a cow to provide milk.
He built every structure on his home place north of Duncan. He engineered much more than that. He hand dug a 5' x 65' well to provide more water for his family. (This involved dynamite and his teenagers. What adventures! We had THE BEST fireworks.) Gates and his children, Mac and Fran, deconstructed half of the original Plato School to salvage the lumber to build a work shop and house addition.
He and, his wife Loretta four-wheeled all over southern Colorado. They square danced across Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado and managed square dance barns at Fun Valley in South Fork, Colorado and in Mesa, AZ. He taught Sunday School, and mowed baseball fields to earn extra cash. He walked to town when gas and cash were not to be found. He pulled many people out of snow drifts and mud holes with his trusty four-wheel drive vehicles, and often ministered to the wayfaring soul broken down or lost or wrecked on Highway 81 in front of their house.
In his 90s, Gates, his nephew, Devon Douglas and Fran built 1-1/2 miles of fence around their ranch. This yielded beautiful bon fires, bruises and bonding.
Gates did not know a stranger. He was man full of adventure and therefore a man with wonderful stories to tell, be they about Tarzan in the jungle for his children, or fish tales for his buddies. He was a raconteur extraordinaire. He provided for this family in every way he knew how: most importantly by example, by character, by hard work.
"And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord...and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left." 2 Kings 22:2.
When he prepared to leave the house, he voiced that he had checked for "money, marbles, chalk, fish hook, line and cork." He did not actually carry these items, but he was always prepared. His Bronco carried survival equipment needed in any emergency. And he carried the attitude of never quitting and self-motivation. When Loretta passed, the first morning in his quiet time with the Lord, he committed to live independently, to continue to be the best the Lord would have him be for his service to the Lord, to his family and to his friends. But most importantly this man of God was prepared to go home to be with his heavenly father because early in his life he accepted Jesus Christ as his personal savior...and he lived his life accordingly. He was a man of morals, values, and ethics, who set the bar for his family. He stood fast in the Lord.
C.S. Lewis captured the concept of eternity on the last page of the Chronicles of Narnia, his seven-book children's fiction series: "For us this is the end of all the stories. ...But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world...had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story, which no one on earth has read, which goes on forever and in which every chapter is better than the one before."
"Your time on earth is not the complete story of your life. You must wait until heaven for the rest of the chapters. It takes faith to live on earth as a foreigner. ...Remember that you are not home yet. At death you won't leave home - you'll go home." (Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren)
He directed us to "Carry on."
He is home now.
LET THE CELEBRATION BEGIN!
Survivors include a son, Gates McPhail III of Leveland, Texas, a daughter, Fran Ryan and husband David of Oklahoma City, seven grandchildren: Shanon Anne Garvin Moore, Shonna Lynn McPhail Calaway, Dana MacKenzie Garvin, Misty McPhail Tolbert, David Gates Oden, Jeff Ryan and Kelly Ryan and ten great grandchildren: Dalton Calaway, Bryson Calaway, Jaxon Tolbert, Karson Calaway, Autumn Tolbert, Zac Moore, Ashton Moore, Rufie Ryan, Brooks Ryan and Hadley Ryan and numerous cousins including a special cousin, Devon Douglas.
He was also preceded in death by his parents, two sisters, Martha Douglas and Frances Ireland, two brothers, Preston McPhail and Arthur Miles McPhail, by a daughter, Gata Sue and a son, David.
Pallbearers will be: Devon Douglas, Gerald Marler, J.J. Bell, Ed Wedig, Claud Cook and Virgil Strickland.
Honorary bearers are: Jackie Marler, Pat Flippen, Ruth Howard, Shirley Bell, Barbara Wedig, Jeanne Douglas and Silvia Ray.
In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to: Live Strong/Prostate Cancer Research/Lance Armstrong Foundation; Nat'l Mail Processing Center; P.O. Box 6002; Albert Lea, MN 56007-6002; online - LIVESTRONG.org; via phone: 512-236-8820.
Online condolences may be made to the family at: www.granthamfuneralhomes.com.
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