Tombstone Tuesday~William & Ruth Sellers

 

William Winfred Sellers

B. 31 Aug. 1925

D. 3 Sept. 1867

Wanda Ruth (Garner) Sellers

B. 7 April 1929

D.  3 Sept. 1867

Married: 13 August 1958

William and Ruth (Garner) Sellers were married 13 August 1958 in Pittsburg, Oklahoma. William Winfred Sellers was the son of Grover Cleveland Sellers and Mary Ann Pruitt. Grover Cleveland Sellers was a grandson of Noah Sellers and Timmey Ellen Parsons. Ruth (Garner) was the daughter of William Marion Garner and his wife, Eva Cleo Cassity.

On the weekend of 3 September 1967, William and his wife Ruth along with 2 others couples decided to fly down to McAlister, Oklahoma and attend the Oklahoma prison rodeo. Traveling with William and Ruth Sellers was another couple and the third couple were in their own plane. The other plane took off first on 3 September 1967 for the return trip to Cassville, Missouri. Eye witness accounts related that the Sellers plane, with the two couple's, somehow came in contact with the undercarriage of the first airplane. Both planes crash landed. The Seller's crash was horrific and all aboard perished. The other plane faired much better and the two individuals on board survived. The Sellers had two daughter under twenty-one who were left orphans. The other couple left a surviving son. 

William Sellers was the director of the Barry County, Missouri, health unit and the other Couple were a prominent farmer. He had served and survived World war II as a SSgt. with the 491 BOMB GP AAF. 

William Winfred Sellers is my 3rd Cousin once removed.

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[1] Tombstone Photo courtesy of “RockTalker”

[2] Find A Grave, Inc., Find A Grave, database and digital images, (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 1 December 2021); Memorial page for William Winfred Sellers; (31 August 1925–3 September 1967); Find a Grave memorial # 37920712, Citing Oak Hill Cemetery; McAlester, Pittsburg County, Oklahoma, USA.