Jack Ray Byers

Jack was born March 4, 1928, in Pampa, Texas, and died December 30, 2016, in Oklahoma City. He was preceded in death by his parents Ralph Samuel Byers and Martha Sharp; brother, Jim Byers; and sister, Dorothy Edelman. He grew up in Duncan, Oklahoma. He began a lifelong passion for working on cars as a boy. He learned from his father until the age of 14, when he boarded a bus and headed to Tinker Field. He was too young to join the military, so he joined the war effort by working for Tinker. He moved into a boarding house and worked in a machine shop. He learned fast. After the war, he opened Byers Paint & Body in Duncan. He met his wife, Ruth Wiyninger at the Easter Pageant in Lawton on Mt. Scott. They married shortly thereafter in 1947, and this May, he and Ruth would have celebrated 70 years of marriage. He went to work for General Motors in 1953 and retired as the Fisher Body Zone Service Manager due to an injury that he sustained that prevented him from being able to see. That did not stop Jack from pursing his passion for working on cars. His talented hands became his eyes. He continued to work on cars the rest of his life. He is survived by his wife, Ruth; son, Ben R. Byers and wife Terry, and daughter, Jackie Winters. He dearly loved his three grandchildren, Brooke Byers Holman and husband Travis, Meredith Byers Roan and husband Jason, and Dee Anne Winters Imel and husband Jeff; and seven great grandchildren.