James Stanley "Stan" Powers' Obituary
James Stanley (Stan) Powers, 87, of Tulsa, OK passed away peacefully, with family at his side, March 31, 2023. Stan was born August 25, 1935 in Custer County, OK to Lloyd Everett Powers and Leila Docia Haskett.
When Stan was four years old, the family, along with younger sister JoAnn, moved to a rural farm near Putnam, OK. The first year in their new house they were snowed in from January to April requiring Stan’s father to procure groceries and other essentials on horseback. The solitude of rural life as a youth encouraged imagination, self reliance, and family devotion. No money to buy JoAnn a bike? No problem, Stan built her one. He was also ornery. He would climb up high in the hayloft and feign suicide. “Farewell cruel world!” he would proclaim to dupe little sis into doing his chores. The farm is also where he developed the strong work ethic that defined his life. He was a good athlete but academics is where he excelled. He earned a BS degree in physics, with a math minor, at Southwestern Oklahoma State University in 1957. He was inducted into the SWOSU Distinguished Alumni Program in 1988.
Stan married his high school sweetheart, Patricia Woldridge in 1954. What started with pulling young Patsy’s pigtails in elementary school blossomed into a lifelong union. Stan and Pat started expanding their family in 1957 with the birth of their first son, Jim, and again in 1958, with the addition of their second son, Mark.
Upon graduation, Stan accepted a position with Southwestern Bell Telephone. He was hired into a management training program ostensibly dubbed the “JET boys”, renowned for the frequency of assignment transfers. Within the first ten years at SW Bell the family made nine moves. Due to his unwavering dedication to the company he quickly rose through the management ranks. He ultimately achieved Division Manager of Network Operations in Oklahoma before retiring in 1991. Among other company accolades he received the prestigious Rider Service Award in 1985. His work was his passion and it could be said his only career failure was retirement - he was terrible at it. A chance meeting in an airport led to Stan joining SW Bell International in 1993 in Mexico City. He spent two years in collaboration with TelMex helping manage their network transition from analog to digital. In 1997 Stan began a four year stint consulting for IBM on multiple projects both domestic and international. He joined Housley Communications in 2014 monitoring buried cable drops in the NE Oklahoma region. He was actively working until the age of 85 when his body finally had enough.
For many years, in addition to his duties at SW Bell, Stan served as Chairman of the Board of the Communications Federal Credit Union. During his brief retirement he volunteered with Habitat for Humanity building houses.
Stan loved his country music, their miniature Schnauzers (all have passed), reading, road trips to Colorado, tailgating at OSU football games, and collecting hammers and Napoleon figurines. He was eager to be involved in his boys’ lives, coaching little league and sharing in their hobbies and lives. Most of all he loved his wife and devoted his life to providing for and pleasing her.
He wished to recognize Doctors James Bailey, Ralph Ensley, and Scott Cole, as well as hospice nurse, Lindsay and caregivers, Janet and Diana.
Stan was preceded in death by his parents Lloyd and Docia Powers.
He is survived by his wife of 68 years, Pat; son, Jim Powers of Tulsa; son and daughter-in-law, Mark and Karen Powers of Cedar Park, Texas; sister and brother-in-law, JoAnn and Bob Wyett of Lubbock, Texas. Brother-in-laws, Ron Woldridge and Roger Woldridge and Sister-in-laws Judy Woldridge and Pam Stout. “Adopted son”, Tom O’Brien and his children Mackenzie and Macarthur. As well as many nieces, nephews, cousins, and so many dear friends.
It was Stan’s desire to have a Celebration of Life at a later date in lieu of a funeral service.
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