Carl Terry Bierdeman

Bierdeman, Carl Terry, known as Terry to his family and childhood friends and as Carl as an adult, was born in St. Louis, MO on April 19, 1928 and grew up in Tulsa, OK. He was a popular wrestler, football player and student class president at Will Rogers High School in Tulsa. His training in the U.S. Air Force led to a long career as a pilot. Rock Island Oil brought him and his family to Wichita when it was purchased by Koch Industries, and he was grateful for a long career of 35 years with this corporation. He fondly recalled that Fred Koch officed next door to him, and Mr. Koch was so pleasant that he would frequently drop in for a friendly chat. His high esteem for Charles Koch prompted him to frequently send newspaper clippings and articles concerning the Kochs to his daughters for years after his retirement. Subsequently he swapped airplanes and pursued other entrepreneurial interests. He was naturally athletic his entire life, running and biking outdoors or playing basketball at the YMCA. He clocked in for a quarter mile sprint at 60 seconds when he was forty-five years old! One of his delights was riding his bicycle every afternoon at the Sedgwick County Park. In addition, playing the organ with the Life Group at Garten’s Music was a joy to him. High school and Air Force reunions kept him in contact with many life- long friends. Carl Terry had three dear sisters, Audrey Jean Otto, Shirley Mable Gingrich and Beverly Lee Wilcox. He married in 1955 to Sue Smalley; he lost her to congestive heart failure in 1988. Again he married, in 1996 to Marguerite Snyder, who passed away May 20, 2015, less than a month ago. He had three beloved children, Barbara Anne Shaffer, Stephen Douglas Benskin and Carol Sue Monahan, six cherished grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, and dear nieces and nephews. Joel and Chase Monahan, two of the grandchildren, regaled us with stories of their expedition with Grandpa to the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. Joel was delighted that his grandpa knew each airplane there, nose to tail. Then the boys were startled one night when their highly conservative grandfather arrived at their door decked out as a rock star, sporting golden earrings and a ski cap…. The boys howled with laughter! His bike slipped out from under him on a wet path as he zipped through the park last week; the brain injury that ensued led to his passing on July 15, 2015. He will be greatly missed by his family and many friends. He would want to assure his son Stephen that he loves him and missed him very much. Daddy trusted in Jesus Christ to pay for his sins on the cross, and we are confident that he is “absent from the body, and present with the Lord!" The funeral service will be at the Memorial Park Cemetery Chapel, 5111 S. Memorial Drive, Tulsa, OK, 10:00 A.M., Tuesday, July 21, 2015. Moore’s Southlawn 918-663-2233 share memories at www.moorefuneral.com

Carl Terry Bierdeman

April 19, 1928 - July 15, 2015