William Miles Blevins, Jr.

Funeral services will be held at 11:00 AM Saturday, August 11, 2018, at the Hale Funeral home chapel in Sulphur. A private interment will follow at Oaklawn cemetery. Miles was born December 15, 1926, in Brock, Oklahoma, to the late William Miles Blevins, Sr. and Viola (Ramsey) Blevins. He died, Saturday, July 28, 2018, in Shawnee, Oklahoma, at the age of 91. Miles was raised on a farm near Pernell, Oklahoma, and attended Fox schools. He served in the US Army Military Police in Germany at the end of WWII and was recalled to active duty during the Korean War, serving at Fort Sam Houston, Texas.
In the late 1940’s and early 1950’s he worked in the oil fields as a roughneck. It was there, while waiting on an injured coworker in the emergency room in Borger, Texas, he was told in no uncertain terms by the charge nurse to “get his dirty boots off my clean ER floor”. That charge nurse was Helen Hays, who, on October 3, 1950, would become his wife of almost 56 years.
Not long after their marriage, Miles and Helen moved back to Oklahoma where Miles continued his career in the oil patch. When an opportunity arose to drill Kerr-McGee’s first well in Alaska, they relocated there for 6 months until he was critically injured by a collapsing derrick ramp and returned to Oklahoma for rehabilitation. They soon settled in Sulphur where he would live out his life, raise a family, establish a business and later become an Elder at Shepard of the Hills Presbyterian Church.
Blevins Welding Service opened in the early 1950s and Miles quickly became known as someone who could build or repair almost anything metal. Recognizing this expertise, he was recruited as a college instructor, teaching welding at Murray State College. He retired and closed his business after over 45 years in 1996. In the late 1950’s, drawn to the fellowship and public service mission, Miles joined the Sulphur-Davis Elks Lodge where he served in several leadership roles including one term as Exalted Ruler, made many lifelong friends and was one of its longest serving members at over 59 years. He also supported the Sulphur community by becoming a volunteer firefighter, frequently stopping his work to don a turnout coat when the siren sounded. He retired from firefighting with over 20 years of service and was one of the last surviving volunteers who fought the Artesian Hotel fire in the early 1960s.
Family was always a priority for Miles. He loved the spending time with his grandchildren, taking family vacations in the camper, spending weekends boating at the lake, quail hunting or fishing with his brother Jay, playing golf and enjoying the company of friends over coffee at the café. Miles was a man of fortitude, conviction and compassion. There is no better example than when Helen was stricken with Alzheimer’s disease in 2000 and he provided round-the-clock care, allowing her to remain at home until her death in 2006. He always met life’s challenges head on and with great dignity; always showing by example what it meant to be a great husband, father and friend.
Miles is survived by a son, Larry (Kris) of Kirtland, OH; granddaughter Kaitlin (Jake) of New York, NY; grandson Nathan of Brooklyn, NY; sister Marie Tanner of Madison, WI; and nephews Mike Blevins (Marty) of Tabernash, CO and Mark Yblood (Darlene) of Fort Worth, TX. He was preceded in death by his wife, Helen and son David along with brothers Wesley Blevins and Jay Blevins; sisters Mamie Johnson and Maxine Yblood. Online condolences may be offered at halesfuneralhomes.com.