Billy Tucker
"We are here just for a spell and then pass on. So get a few laughs and do the best you can. ..." -- Will Rogers
Billy Bob Tucker, "Papa"
Obituary
Billy Bob Tucker, 86, died June 5, 2014 at his home in Stillwater, Oklahoma. A funeral service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, June 10, 2014 at the Stillwater Church of Christ with Richard Poe and David Combs officiating. Strode Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements.
Billy was born on January 13, 1928 to Smith Thomas and Annie Mae Jones Tucker in Western Oklahoma in the town of Grimes.
He attended school at Sunny Point before graduating from Sweetwater in 1945.
He served in the U.S. Coast Guard before attending Oklahoma Agriculture and Mechanical College. He obtained his M.S. from Oklahoma Agriculture and Mechanical College and his PhD in Agronomy and Soil Science from the University of Illinois.
He married Christine McGuire in 1949 and they had three children, moving back to Stillwater in 1956 and beginning his career at OSU as a Soil scientist until his retirement in 1986 as a Regents Professor. He continued his soil science career as a private consultant until 2006.
Billy was preceded in death by his parents Smith and Annie Tucker; wife, Christine of 53 years in 2002 He was married to Shirley Barbre in 2006 until her death in January 2014.
He is survived by his three children; Ann Wilkinson and her husband, Ron of Tulsa, LaDonna Fuchs and her husband, Curtis of Stillwater, and Stan Tucker and his partner, Michael McDermott of Ft. Worth, Texas. He is also survived by eight grandchildren; Mark Wilkinson, Matt Wilkinson, Rebecca Wilkinson Stone, Brent Fuchs, Brian Fuchs, Bradley Fuchs, Christian (Opie) Tucker and Annie Tucker and twelve great-grandchildren.
Memorial contributions may be made in his name, Billy B. Tucker to the undergraduate scholarship in soil science c/o OSU Foundation, P.O. Box 1749, Stillwater, Oklahoma, 74076