July 20, 1931 - March 26, 2023
The memorial service for Dr. Gunnar Ward Anderson is 11 a.m. Monday, April 3, 2023 in the Westminster Presbyterian Church under the direction of Henninger-Hinson Funeral Home. A private burial will precede the service.
Gunnar Ward Anderson was born on July 20, 1931 in Hartshorne, OK and passed away on March 26, 2023. His parents were Gunnar William and Lucile Vivian Anderson. The family moved to Hugo, OK in 1934 where his father practiced dentistry until his death in 1967. His only sibling, Roger Max, was born in September, 1934 and died in an auto-bicycle accident in 1942.
Gunnar attended Hugo schools where he graduated in 1949. While in high school, he was active in athletics where he lettered in football, basketball and track. After high school graduation, he enrolled at the University of Oklahoma where he was a member of Kappa Sigma Fraternity. After completing his pre-dental studies, he entered Baylor University College of Dentistry in Dallas, graduating in 1956. He was inducted into the honorary dental fraternity, Omicron Kappa Upsilon, upon graduation.
Gunnar married Barbara Sue Patterson, also from Hugo, on December 27, 1952. After graduating dental school, Gunnar entered the U.S. Air Force and he and Barbara moved to Denver, CO where he was stationed at Lowry Air Force Base where the Air Force Academy was temporarily located while the new facility was being built in Colorado Springs. Gunnar practiced dentistry at the academy and was honorably discharged with the rank of captain in July, 1958. While stationed in Denver, Gunnar and Barbara’s two children, Karen and Julie, were born. After leaving the Air Force, the family moved to Enid, OK where Gunnar joined Earl Mabry’s dental practice. They practiced in the Broadway Tower until moving into the newly constructed Dental Arts Building on West Broadway. He practiced there with several different partners for over 53 years until his retirement on January 1, 2012 at the age of 80.
Gunnar was a long-time member of the First Presbyterian Church where he served as deacon and elder and was a charter member of Westminster Presbyterian Church.
Gunnar enjoyed playing tennis and golf and was a lifelong die-hard Sooner fan and passed this affliction on to his daughters and granddaughters. Boomer! He enjoyed hosting his granddaughters’ birthday parties in his backyard pool and entertaining his grandsons from Mississippi each summer. He dazzled them all by diving off the roof of his pool house into the pool each year on his birthday, a practice he continued until his 70 th birthday. He was the best Gundaddy.
Gunnar was preceded in death by his parents, his brother Max, his wife of 67 years, Barbara, in 2020 and his daughter Julie Boykin in 2003. He is survived by his daughter and son-in-law Karen and Jay Knapik, Enid. He is also survived by his grandchildren, Gunnar and Meagan Boykin, Conway, AK, Katie Knapik and fiancé Zach Schatz, Oklahoma City, Dee and Amanda Boykin, Yazoo City, MS, Molly and Andrew Bayne, Plano, TX, and Ben and Haley Boykin, Madison, MS and great- grandchildren, Julie Scott, Max, Hayes, Shea, Mason, Britt, Henry, and Alice. He is also survived by his best buddy, his dog Buckles.
Memorials may be made in his honor to Westminster Presbyterian Church of Enid, Hospice Circle of Love, or OMRF-Cancer Division with Henninger-Hinson acting as custodians of the fund.
Obituaries are posted, in part, due to the generosity of The Commons.
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