Mr. Gilbert Harold Ward, age 79 and a resident of Compton, California, formerly of Okmulgee, Oklahoma, passed from life to eternity on Thursday, March 8, 2007 from Long Beach, California.

Gilbert was born to Glen and Ellen Ward, Sr., on November 1, 1927. He attended Okmulgee Public Schools, where he graduated from Historic Dunbar High School in 1948. He then enlisted in the United States Marines, where he served his Country Honorably. He returned to Okmulgee and married Mae Francis Patterson. This union was blessed with one son, Harold. Gilbert later moved to California and worked as a machinist until his retirement.

He was an avid reader and enjoyed listening to music. He endeavored to return home and his spirits, as well as his family and friends spirits were lifted whenever he was around; he loved to reminisce and reflect on the past. Gilbert possessed many talents and utilized his skills to assist others in anyway that he could.

He was welcomed into eternity by his son, his parents, three brothers, Alvin, Glen and Lawrence Ward, and a sister, Vivian.

Remaining to lament his passing; his sisters, Velma Hill and Bernice [Alfred] Biglow, Okmulgee, Oklahoma, Jewayne Brown, Wichita, Kansas and Gayle Ward, Tulsa, Oklahoma; a brother, Kenneth [Pat] Ward, Tulsa, Oklahoma; an aunt, Eula Hopkins, Tulsa, Oklahoma; a granddaughter, Christine Ward; his sister-in-law, Josephine Ward; a special friend, Barbara Howell; along with a host of nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.

The service of memory for Mr. Ward will be on Friday, March 16, 2007 at 1:00 P.M. in the Chapel of Peace at the Keith D. Biglow Funeral Directors, Inc., of Okmulgee. Brother Clarence Hall will officiate. Burial will follow in Woodlawn Cemetery in Okmulgee.

You may visit Mr. Ward, as he slumbers at the Keith D. Biglow Funeral Directors, Inc., in Okmulgee on Thursday from 12 Noon to 6 PM.