William Alfred ?Bill? Black was born to Nye and Claudia Black on July 16th, 1929 in Sapulpa, OK. He was preceded in death by his parents as well as older sister Marjean , younger brother John, and survived by his oldest sibling, Kenneth of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Bill was born into tough times to hearty people, just 3 months prior to the stock market crash that preceded the Great Depression. His father Nye provided for his family by entering the growing oil industry in northeastern Oklahoma. Never out of work,he walked miles of pipeline, inspecting right-of-ways for leaks and obstructions. Later in his career, he was given a mule and a longer route but fully recognized the great potential of this growing industry. Life at home was consumed providing for the family. Fresh and canned produce from a large garden along with fish and game gathered on weekly trips to field and stream provided food for the table. It was during these youthful times that Bill honed his hunting, fishing and nature skills at the elbow of his dad. These same skills would provide countless hours of joy throughout his long life.

Upon graduation from high school, at the strong suggestion of his father, he enrolled in the Petroleum Engineering School at the University of Tulsa. Bill worked his way through college, commuting to and from home in Sapulpa on the bus. After receiving his diploma in 1952, he took a position as a field engineer with Amerada working the newly discovered Tioga field in the Williston Basin of North Dakota. It was in Williston that he met a home town beauty named Mary Lou Saunders and they were married after a courtship of two years, although Mary Lou always said ?It would have been shorter if he hadn?t been such a smart aleck?. About this same time, Bill felt the need the need for a bigger job now that he had more responsibility. While walking down Boston Avenue during a job search trip in Tulsa, he ran into a school mate who told him about a possible job at a company that was expanding their production department. He landed that job at Helmerich & Payne, a relationship that would last 31 years. His first position was as a District Engineer living in a company camp along the Pecos River northwest of Iraan (Ira-Anne), Texas. It was here that they bore two sons and gathered countless dear friends and killed many a rattlesnake in their backyard. After five years in the West Texas paradise, Bill and Mary Lou were promoted to similar position in the big town of Garden City, Kansas, where they bought their first house. In 1960, after less than a year and the birth of a daughter, they were again transferred, this time to the home office of H & P in Tulsa where Bill took a desk job working for his mentor, Harry Seay (Say). It was here in Tulsa that Bill spent the remainder of his career, the final 20 years heading up the Exploration and Production department and working along-side many talented professionals and service industry colleagues and friends. A special time in his career was the opportunity afforded him by H & P to develop friendships all over the world while attending the Harvard University Advanced Management Program.

Another great benefit of working with Helmerich & Payne was the privilege of owning a company cabin on Lake Fort Gibson. Bill, his parents and family enjoyed all four seasons on the lake. Winter and spring were spent fishing, while the summers were filled boating, teaching the kids to fish, swim and waterski. The cabin was such a special family place that upon his H & P retirement, Bill and May Lou bought another cabin a few hundred yards up the cove. The last past 28 years have been spent teaching the same life lessons to another generation of Blacks.

Bill always said you had to retire to something, so after H & P, he invested his newly discovered free time in his family. About this time the first two granddaughters were born and although they lived in Oklahoma City, both girls spent good blocks of time with Bill and Mary Lou at their homes in Tulsa and on the lake. It was during these years when Allison and Meredith were growing up that Bill perfected his doting skills. He and Mary Lou would drive to every vocal or dance performance the girls scheduled and called often just to talk. Those first dozen years of grandparenthood were the salad days because in 1994 the avalanche broke and grandkids came often and regularly. First Reid, then Rebecca, followed by Lauren, then after a pause came Ross followed by a double dose with Sean and Colin and all of them less than three miles from their front door. With all these kids so close, their habits had to change but changed for the best. They made every game, performance and milestone of each grandchild and quickly got in the habit of permanently storing their lawn chairs in the trunk of the car, so they could be ready at a moment?s notice. But through all of this, each kid had an individual relationship with their granddad. One a fisherman, one a hunter, the girls were his princesses and the twins enjoyed their time at granddad?s house more than all the rest put together.

In between all this grand-parenting, Bill still found great pleasure in being outdoors enjoying crappie fishing on area lakes and quail hunting in both Oklahoma and West Texas. Later in his retirement years he discovered elk hunting in Wyoming and deer hunting in Oklahoma and Nebraska. He especially enjoyed his time with his deer hunting buddies on the top of Red Springs Mountain on the Meinders? Ranch in Cherokee County, east of Cookson.

Bill who chose to live rather modestly but loved extravagantly, is survived by his loving wife, Mary Lou; Children, Brad and Judith Black and their daughters, Allison and Meredith; Ken and Stacy Black and their kids, Reid, Rebecca and Ross; and Susan and Tom Golliver and their kids, Lauren, Sean and Colin, along with nearly 20 nieces and nephews and their children.