A memorial service for Bill Earl Adkins, 87, of Blanchard, will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, October 30, 2026, in the Ferguson Funeral Home Chapel with Daniel Edwards officiating. 

Billy Earl Adkins was born May 5, 1939 in Fairfax, Oklahoma, the son of William “Bill” McKinley Adkins and Ethel Francis (Marshall) Adkins. He passed from this life on Wednesday, October 14, 2026 in Oklahoma City.

Bill grew up in the Osage County area with many of the kids from the reservation and he attended Gray Horse School. As a young man, he worked for the Indian Electric Coop and on the Drummond Ranch, where his father was the foreman.

In 1962, he was drafted into the United States Army, serving during peacetime until 1964.

He marred Beverly Jean Smith and from this union his two sons, Marc and Quinn, were born. After his military service, the family settled around Fairfax for a few years before moving to West Grady County in 1967, where they bought a ranching farm.

Bill and his wife worked full-time jobs and ran the farm, they were extremely hard workers. Bill started working at OK Electric Coop as a lineman and he retired from there 35 years later as the Right of Way Manager.

First and foremost, Bill was a man of the land. He loved his farm and lived working the land for over 50 years, raising cattle, growing his own hay, cultivating crops, and working with horses. He was an avid outdoorsman and enjoyed fishing, hunting, always desiring to be around nature. He was the salt of the earth. One of the most genuine, earnest, and honest souls you would meet. Growing up near the Osage reservation on a homestead, the Osage were his first friends. He was very empathetic to their struggles and knew that it is who people are inside that is important, not what they look like. He was very generous, and it was instinctual for him to help those in need. Bill was playful and derived a lot of joy from life.

He was preceded in death by both parents, Bill and Ethel Adkins, and his siblings, Juanita (Adkins) Gentry, R.C. “Allen” Adkins, and Glen Olen Adkins.

Loved ones left to cherish his memory are his sons Marc Adkins of Moore and Quinn Adkins of Madison, Wisconsin; sisters Mary Jordan of Bartlesville and Onie Gregg of Owasso; grandchildren Carl Adkins, Brigetta Vasquez, Brandon Stevens, and Ryan Stevens; and other extended family and friends.

In lieu of flowers, Bill requested that any memorial contributions be made to a charity of your personal choice.

The service and cremation arrangements are under the direction of Ferguson Funeral Home, Chickasha, Oklahoma.