Billy DePrater

Billy Lenard DePrater, age 72, passed away on Tuesday, August 26, 2008, in Valley View Regional Hospital in Ada, Oklahoma.rnrnFuneral services are scheduled for 10:00 a.m. on Friday, August 29, 2008, at the Swearingen Funeral Home Chapel in Konawa, Oklahoma. Ed Bray will officiate. Burial will follow at 2:00 p.m. at South Heights Cemetery at 1815 S. Ridgeway Street in Sapulpa, Oklahoma.rnrnBilly L. DePrater was born October 4, 1935, in Sapulpa, Oklahoma to William J. and Maude DePrater. He passed away on August 26, 2008. He lived in Keifer until he was twelve years old when his family moved to Konawa, OK. He attended Vamoosa schools and graduated in 1953. He then attended Bethany Penile (now known as Bethany Nazarene) in Bethany, OK. He graduated with a BS in Chemistry from East Central University in 1958, and was employed by the Oklahoma State Department of Health. He received a Public Health Service Grant to attend the University of Oklahoma where he received a Masters Degree in Sanitary Science and Public Health (Industrial Hygiene). He continued his career with the Bureau of Mines at the Helium plant in Keys, OK., and later he transferred to the Bartlesville Petroleum Research division where he worked in Physical Chemistry in the development of rocket fuels and propellents. He was co-author on several scientific papers out of this facility. (You could call him a true rocket scientist.)rnrnHe transferred to the Public Health Service and was the Chief Chemist on the Delaware Estuary Study working to clean up the Delaware and Raritan Rivers in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. He developed several tests to study estuary waters. He also taught mini classes in Mass-Spectroscopy at Rutgers University and CC&Y. He transferred to the Robert S. Kerr Regional Laboratory in Ada, OK., in 1965, and worked there until 1982. Billy was married to Ann Brewer in 1956. rnrnHe is survived by two sons; William DePrater and wife, Shawna of Ada, OK, and Bruce DePrater of Fresno, California, three daughters, Cindy DePrater of The Colony, Texas, Cheryl Gurley and husband, Gary of Redondo Beach, CA, and Stacy Shelton and husband, Douglas of Norman, OK; two grandchildren, Brealyn Brashier and Oliver Shelton; two sisters, Vera Bland and Margaret Paxton, and several nieces and nephews.rnrnHe was preceded in death by his father, Williams J. DePrater, who passed away in 1963, and his mother, Maude (Stephens) DePrater who passed away in 1996.rnrnPoppy, we love you and will miss you. Funeral Information: August 28, 2008, 10:00 AM