Bill Cody Houston, Sr. and Ruth Arlene (Hunt) Houston, married in 1931. In the late 1940’s they lived in Cleveland, Oklahoma, and had been trying for years to have children. Finally, when Bill Sr. was 49, and Ruth was 37, they had a son, Bill Cody Houston, Jr., on January 31, 1950 at the hospital in Hominy, OK. Three years later, the family was blessed with a daughter, Trudy.
The family moved to Bristow, OK in 1955, purchasing a house on Poplar street. The family met with tragedy in 1961, when Bill Sr. suddenly passed away. This left Cody to be the man of the house at the age of 11. Cody went to work delivering newspapers on his bicycle when he was 13 years old. All of his free time at that age was spent reading Louis Lamour westerns, and secretly smoking his mom’s cigarette’s. This was the beginning of Cody’s working life, working at least two jobs through high school to help support the family.
Cody had two loves over the course of his life: Old cars, and Judy (Glisson) Houston. All of the stories told by Cody, or anyone who knew him, were tied to the car he was driving at the time. A favorite story involved a car that would only go in reverse. He drove from Bristow to Gypsy to pick Judy up for a date, back to Bristow, and took Judy home, all in reverse.
In 1967, Cody and Judy began dating. She was a sophomore at Depew High School, and he was a junior at Bristow High School. In 1970 the were married in El Paso, TX, where Cody was stationed in the Army. The couple moved back home to Bristow in 1972, where they had a daughter, Jennifer (Houston) Pitts in 1974. They lived in Bristow for a couple of years, before buying a house and 40 acres in Depew, where they lived the past 40 years.
In 1974 Cody went to work for Oklahoma Natural Gas, at the age of 24. He worked at the Depew gas plant facility for many years, before transferring to the Shawnee Office, making many lifelong friends along the way. He retired from the company at the age of 55, after 31 years of service. Cody met one of his closest friends, Steve Lowery, while working for ONG. They spent the last 25 years talking cars, books, guns, and whatever else life had to offer at the time.
Another joy in Cody’s life was spending time with family and friends. He enjoyed spending time with his son-in-law Clay Pitts, and his family. There were many years of shooting guns, playing paintball, camping and talking cars. Watching his granddaughter Taylor grow up was a great source of pride for Cody. He would brag about her to anyone that would listen, and tell stories of teaching her to drive or shoot. Though his sister Trudy (Houston) White has lived in New Mexico for many years, he still considered them very close, and talked of she and husband Marvin often.
On December, 2, 2017, Cody succumbed to cancer, after smoking for 54 years, at the age of 67. Cody was a very generous man, who had a large circle of family, friends, and acquaintances. He will be missed by all.
Graveside services will be held on Thursday, December 7, 2017 at 11:00am at the Bristow City Cemetery, officiated by Pastor Dewayne Scaife. Services were entrusted to the care of Michael’s Funeral Home. In lieu of flowers, please visit michaelsfuneralservices.com to make donations to the Porta Caeli House hospice.
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