Hal Winford Grady

Hal “Bill” Winford Grady, age 80, passed away at his daughter’s home in Vilonia on February 28, 2018. He was born in Vandervoort, Arkansas on February 12, 1938. Bill graduated from Lehigh High School and went on to Murray State College where he graduated with an Associate Degree in Agriculture in 1959. He married Imogene Gayler on June 19, 1960 in Coalgate, Oklahoma. The young couple moved to Oklahoma City where Bill found employment with the F.A. Highley Company. He worked there as a floor and counter top installer for 45 years.  Bill grew up as a young boy in Arkansas where he learned to play rhythm guitar by following his uncle behind a plow as he sang. His first guitar cost $35 and he has never been without one since that time. Bill loved Country & Western music, but his favorite was Bluegrass. He played music almost every weekend of his life. He was part of a country band for many years and attended Bluegrass festivals across the country.  In 1992 his wife Imogene passed away and he remarried Noreta Daugherty Voyles in 1995. After 13 years of marriage she passed away in 2008. Widowed twice, Bill remained single the rest of his life. He attended the Cowboy Church in Oklahoma City for many years, but was baptized at Rancho Village Baptist Church in 2013.  He is survived by daughter Barbara Ann Castle and two grandsons Robert “Pierson” and Hal “Landon” of Vilonia; daughter Shonya Jean Perkins, her husband James, three grandchildren Teresa Palone, April Sanders, and Dustan Sanders of Oklahoma City; and six great-grandchildren; sister, Dorothy Jean Harris, and many nieces and nephews. Bill was preceded in death by his mother, Maude Pounds, and brother, Leon Lampkin.