LeRoy Williamson Jr.

LeRoy Williamson Jr. passed away May 6, 2023 after a brief illness while vacationing in Colorado.
Graveside services will be held at 1:30 P.M., Wednesday, May 10, 2023, at Elmhurst Cemetery in Guymon, Oklahoma. Arrangements are by Boxwell Brothers Funeral Directors, 2800 Paramount Blvd.
He was born on January 29, 1927 in a rural area near Madison, Kansas. A child of the depression, LeRoy helped his father provide for the family after his father had to split his job (and pay) with another employee in the oil fields. LeRoy tended to 3 cows in order to sell milk and cream to neighboring families. Growing up in the oil fields of Kansas taught LeRoy the need for a strong work ethic and a good education.
LeRoy was drafted into the Army the day he finished high school in 1945 and assigned to the Combat Engineering unit. This was an extremely hazardous assignment as they were trained to locate and disarm both land mines on roads and booby traps in buildings. He was scheduled to ship out to Japan when the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. He was forever grateful to Harry Truman for that decision as it meant LeRoy being shipped out to a much less hazardous assignment in Germany.
After the war, LeRoy returned to the states and began his college education at the University of Oklahoma, combining his oilfield experience with strong math and analytical skills. While there he went on a blind date to a Texas/OU football game with some friends and met the love of his life, Ellen Koehler. Ellen, a music major at OU, was also raised in a rural community, and graduated in a class of 9 students from Adams, Oklahoma. Ellen was her father's primary farm hand as he tried to raise crops in the dust bowl era of Oklahoma.
LeRoy and Ellen were married in 1951 and, like his father, joined Phillips Petroleum Co with his petroleum engineering degree. Ellen set aside her degree in Music to start a family and support LeRoy's career. LeRoy excelled in the management duties within the Exploration & Production division of Phillips and was transferred every two or three years to different states and different parts of the oil patch to solve production problems. Ellen got her teaching certificate and served as a substitute teacher when she was not being a full time mother to her four children.
Ellen passed away in 2021 after 70 years of marriage, and LeRoy was left heartbroken. After two years of living by himself God granted LeRoy his wish and joined Ellen. LeRoy will be laid to rest beside the love of his life in the Guymon, OK cemetery on the afternoon of Wednesday, May 10th.
LeRoy is survived by 3 children, Mark Williamson, Jere Newton, and Janet Grace. LeRoy had 8 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by wife Ellen and daughter Vicky Hudgeons.