Buster Gilliam

Keith “Buster” Gilliam was born April 8, 1957 to Mamie Lois Pool Wildensten and Harold Gilliam in Oakland, California and passed away on August 1, 2023 in Chandler, Oklahoma at the age of 66 years.
Buster lived in California in the early years of his life and then moved to Chandler, Oklahoma in grade school. He graduated from Chandler High School in 1976 and, in 1979, married Vickie Helm (Hicks).  Shortly, thereafter, Buster and Vickie had their daughter, Crystal, who was her daddy’s pride and joy.
Buster worked at Eaton Corporation in Shawnee, Oklahoma for over 3 decades and still has many friends from his Eaton days.  He was involved in the event planning committee at Eaton and loved helping plan family day events and other get togethers, including Eaton’s team for the annual Pott. County Chili Cookoff event where they took 2nd place in 2001.  He was a hard, dedicated worker and so good at his job that he was asked to travel to China and Germany to assist with projects in Eaton’s international plants.  Buster loved to show pictures and tell stories about his trips overseas.
Buster loved spending time with his late wife, Barbara Joann Berry Harvey, and they spent many years hosting family get togethers’ and entertaining the grandkids. They also loved spoiling their fur baby, a chihuahua named GiGi, who, unfortunately, passed away in in April 2023. GiGi was a great companion to Buster during her 14 years, and especially after Barbara passed away in July 2020.
Buster loved to have a good time! He spent his younger days with Dan Harvey fixing up his race car each week for that weekend’s rush of adrenaline at the Meeker dirt racetrack. He loved having his friends and family over to grill, smoke some meat (and smoke other things!), drink beer, play cards, and shoot the…well, you know.  In his younger days, Buster loved to hunt, fish, and, in recent years, he still enjoyed watching hunting and fishing shows, and he always knew when the next Nascar race was.  He truly loved living life.
Preceding him in death were his wife, Barbara; mother, Lois Mamie Pool Wildensten; father, Harold Gilliam; and his favorite uncle, Carl Pool. Survivors include his daughter, Crystal Earp and husband Cody of Chandler; stepdaughter, Tammi Walker and husband Lance Bivins of Oklahoma City; stepson, Billy Walker and wife Christi of Cushing; seven grandchildren, Heston Earp; Lance II, Chassidy and Tyler Bivins; and Jonathan, Jacob and Joshua Walker; his sister, Glenyce Berchtold of Pahrump, Nevada; and his long-time best friends, David Brown and James “Big Jim” Douglas, and many, many other family and friends.
At Buster’s request, no visitation or funeral service will be held. In true “Buster” style, the family asks that you hold up the next beer you drink and say, “Cheers to Buster!” to honor his memory. There is nothing that would make him happier than seeing everybody celebrating and having fun! Arrangements were under the direction of Lehman Funeral Home of Wellston.

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