Aubrey E. Whitfield

Aubrey E. Whitfield, 86, of McAlester, died Saturday, Dec. 6, 2008, at St. Francis Hospital in Tulsa.Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Bishop Chapel of Memories with the Rev. Darren Schoggins officiating. Burial will be at Memory Gardens Cemetery in McAlester. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Bishop Funeral Service of McAlester.Born May 6, 1922, in the Indianola area, he was the son of Tom and Lena Jackson Whitfield. His father died when he was young and he was raised by his grandfather.He then joined the United States Army and served during World War II in Italy and Germany.He married Ellen Gregory on Sept. 14, 1946, in Reno, Nev. They lived in California until 1963, at which time they moved back to McAlester. He worked as a wrecker driver for Scotty’s Wrecker Service and later began working in construction at Arrowhead Lodge. He later worked as a machinist at Elsing’s and at Henson-Kickernick in clothing manufacturing.Survivors include his wife, Ellen Whitfield, of the home; three sons and daughters-in-law, Tom and Becky Whitfield, Firestone, Colo., Jim and Linda Whitfield, of Bristow, and Gary and Earline Whitfield, of McAlester.Also, 13 grandchildren; 18 great-grandchildren, and two sisters and a brother-in-law, Audrey and Bob Cartwright, of Tulsa, and Betty Santos, Hayward, Calif.He was preceded in death by his parents and one sister, Dorothy Farquhar.Pallbearers will be Gary Lynn Whitfield, Shawn Whitfield, Shawn Lay, Scott Whitfield, Jack Whitfield and Michael Riley.