Tommy Paul Burk

Funeral service, with military honors, for Tommy Paul Burk will be 2:00 p.m. Friday, July 21, 2023 at Antioch Baptist Church south of Lawton, Oklahoma with Rev. Vivian Garza, Pastor officiating.

Arrangements are under the direction of Becker-Rabon Funeral Home.

Tommy Paul Burk, 87, of Marlow, Oklahoma passed away Friday, July 14, 2023 at his home in Marlow. He was born January 19, 1936 in Lawton, Oklahoma to James Marion and Alta (Bradford) Burk. At age fifteen, Tommy went to live with his brother, Howard, where he began driving a dump truck. He enlisted in the Navy at the young age of 16 and it was during this endeavor that he met and married his first wife, Dora Mae, in Yuma, Arizona. From this union they had three children, Denise Ann, Eutha Faye and Charles Eugene. Tommy was honorably discharged from the Navy in 1963 and he moved to Long Beach, California where he met his second wife, Joan, while he was singing at the Foothill Club. During their union, the two welcomed two daughters, Carrie Lynn and Tina Jo and one stepson, Bill Christian. He loved spending his time at the Salton Sea riding motorcycles and dune buggies with his daughters and attending NASCAR races watching his favorite driver, #21, Neil Bonnett. Tommy spent many years working in the auto glass business dedicating his time to sales and installations. He met his soulmate and third wife, Betty Umpleby, while working at her auto glass shop in California. When the two wed, Tommy took on a stepson, Bill Umpleby. Upon retirement from the glass shop, Tommy and his bride, Betty, moved to Lake Havasu, Arizona where they began a business specializing in desert landscaping. Years later he retired again and the two moved to Duncan, Oklahoma where Tommy spent his years of retirement writing gospel songs, golfing, fishing, watching NASCAR, repairing and collecting antique clocks, pocket watches, and tinkering with any small engine he could get his hands on. Tommy was an avid animal lover and rescued many shelter dogs with his wife in their final years.

He is preceded in death by his wives, Dora Mae, Joan Burk and Betty Burk, his parents James Marion and Alta Bradford Burk, brothers; Everett, Clarence, Howard, Welton, Carl Lee, Neal, Jake and Gene, and sisters; Mae, Earlene, Wanda, and Delores, his sons; Charles Eugene Burk and Bill Christian.

He is survived by his sisters; Oleta Dean and Joyce Grayson, daughter and son-in-law; Denise and Tim Lacy, daughter and son-in-law; Eutha and Cary Black, daughter; Carrie Lynn Brady, daughter and son-in-law; Tina and Paul Hoffman and stepson; Bill Umpleby, 15 grandchildren Michelle Thurber, Karen Hansen, Danny Lacy, Jenifer Hymas, William C. Macedo Jr., Charles Eugene Jr., Matthew Burk, Breaunna Burk, Brendon Burk, William Burk, Jazlyn Burk, Brittany Quinn, Brent McCurdy, Ashley Jerez, Andrew Hoffman, Amber Patterson, Paul Hoffman Jr., 33 great-grandchildren and a butt load of nieces, nephews, and cousins.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Stephens County Humane Society in his honor.

An online guest book and sympathy cards are available at www.beckerfuneral.com