{"id":22726,"date":"2025-11-11T14:25:29","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T20:25:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?p=22726"},"modified":"2025-11-13T10:25:49","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T16:25:49","slug":"william-warren-bill-oakley-90-of-newton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/22726-william-warren-bill-oakley-90-of-newton\/","title":{"rendered":"William Warren &#8220;Bill&#8221; Oakley (91) of Newton"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-post pdfprnt-top-right\"><a href=\"javascript: window.print()\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-print\" target=\"_self\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/print.png\" alt=\"image_print\" title=\"Print Content\" \/><span class=\"pdfprnt-button-title pdfprnt-button-print-title\">Print<\/span><\/a><\/div><p>William Warren \u201cBill\u201d Oakley, age 91<br \/>\nDecember 12, 1933 \u2013 November 11, 2025<\/p>\n<p>Bill was born on December 12, 1933, near Mattoon, Illinois, the son of Luther R. and Cora Jennie (Myers) Oakley. \u00a0He grew up in Grove Township of Jasper County, Illinois.<\/p>\n<p>Funeral services will be held at 11:00 AM, Saturday, November 15, 2025, at Central Christian Church in Newton, Illinois, with Mike Knepper officiating. \u00a0Burial will be in Island Creek Cemetery southeast of Montrose, Illinois. \u00a0A visitation for family and friends will be held from 9:00 to10:45 AM, before the service. \u00a0Arrangements are under the care of the Meyer Funeral Home in Newton, Illinois.<\/p>\n<p>Bill graduated from Newton Community High School in 1952. \u00a0Soon after graduation, he joined the US Air Force and served a four-year enlistment, working as a radar technician. He married Betty Harris on February 8, 1956, at West Village Christian Church, north of Albion, Illinois. \u00a0They began their married life in Tampa, Florida, where Bill was serving in the Air Force. Then they lived briefly in Albion, Illinois, before moving to Bill&#8217;s home county \u2013 Jasper County, Illinois, where they raised their four sons. On his return to Jasper County, he worked at the box factory for a few years before being hired by Robards Brothers Plastering and Drywall, from which he retired. In retirement he worked at the Newton city water plant. Bill was a faithful member of Central Christian Church in Newton, Illinois, where for many years he served as a deacon and an elder, as well as the organizer of the church\u2019s support for international and domestic Christian missions. \u00a0He sang duets at church with Betty and sang while driving with his family \u2013 sometimes spirituals, sometimes popular songs from the 1940s, sometimes southern gospel and old-style hymns. \u00a0He had a modest LP record collection of big band, gospel, and classical music and enjoyed listening to classical music on Public Radio.<\/p>\n<p>Bill is survived by his sons David (Jonathan Wimer) of Mayetta KS, Paul of Waynesboro VA, Dan (Beth Oakley) of Lakewood CO, Tom (Valerie Hockgraver) of Drayden MD, and his great-niece Dee Goodwin, who lovingly watched over him, safeguarding his dignity. He was also survived by six grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren, two great-great-grandchildren, five nieces and nephews, his aunt Joyce (Ted) Rinkel, and extended family.<\/p>\n<p>Bill was preceded in death by his parents, his wife Betty, his sisters Louise Nichols, Reba Griffith, and Shirley Jean Oakley, his niece Betty Gish, his nephew Steve Griffith, and many aunts, uncles, and cousins.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bill died the morning of Tuesday, November 11<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":22876,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-obits"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>William Warren &quot;Bill&quot; Oakley (91) of Newton - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/22726-william-warren-bill-oakley-90-of-newton\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"William Warren &quot;Bill&quot; Oakley (91) of Newton - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/22726-william-warren-bill-oakley-90-of-newton\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-11T20:25:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-13T16:25:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/bill-oakley.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"107\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"166\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Greg Sapp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Greg Sapp\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/obits\\\/22726-william-warren-bill-oakley-90-of-newton\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/obits\\\/22726-william-warren-bill-oakley-90-of-newton\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Greg Sapp\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ea4a7a4f3418a551e6319888ef00a8f1\"},\"headline\":\"William Warren &#8220;Bill&#8221; Oakley (91) of Newton\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-11T20:25:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-13T16:25:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/obits\\\/22726-william-warren-bill-oakley-90-of-newton\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":410,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/obits\\\/22726-william-warren-bill-oakley-90-of-newton\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/bill-oakley.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Obituaries\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/obits\\\/22726-william-warren-bill-oakley-90-of-newton\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/obits\\\/22726-william-warren-bill-oakley-90-of-newton\\\/\",\"name\":\"William Warren \\\"Bill\\\" Oakley (91) of Newton - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/obits\\\/22726-william-warren-bill-oakley-90-of-newton\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/obits\\\/22726-william-warren-bill-oakley-90-of-newton\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/bill-oakley.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-11T20:25:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-13T16:25:49+00:00\",\"description\":\"Effingham's News and Sports Leader\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/obits\\\/22726-william-warren-bill-oakley-90-of-newton\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/obits\\\/22726-william-warren-bill-oakley-90-of-newton\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/obits\\\/22726-william-warren-bill-oakley-90-of-newton\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/bill-oakley.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/bill-oakley.jpg\",\"width\":107,\"height\":166},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/obits\\\/22726-william-warren-bill-oakley-90-of-newton\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"William Warren &#8220;Bill&#8221; Oakley (91) of Newton\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/premier-logo-v1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/premier-logo-v1.png\",\"width\":272,\"height\":69,\"caption\":\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ea4a7a4f3418a551e6319888ef00a8f1\",\"name\":\"Greg Sapp\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/author\\\/greg_sapp\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"William Warren \"Bill\" Oakley (91) of Newton - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","description":"Effingham's News and Sports Leader","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/22726-william-warren-bill-oakley-90-of-newton\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"William Warren \"Bill\" Oakley (91) of Newton - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","og_description":"Effingham's News and Sports Leader","og_url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/22726-william-warren-bill-oakley-90-of-newton\/","og_site_name":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","article_published_time":"2025-11-11T20:25:29+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-11-13T16:25:49+00:00","og_image":[{"width":107,"height":166,"url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/bill-oakley.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Greg Sapp","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Greg Sapp","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/22726-william-warren-bill-oakley-90-of-newton\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/22726-william-warren-bill-oakley-90-of-newton\/"},"author":{"name":"Greg Sapp","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/ea4a7a4f3418a551e6319888ef00a8f1"},"headline":"William Warren &#8220;Bill&#8221; Oakley (91) of Newton","datePublished":"2025-11-11T20:25:29+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-13T16:25:49+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/22726-william-warren-bill-oakley-90-of-newton\/"},"wordCount":410,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/22726-william-warren-bill-oakley-90-of-newton\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/bill-oakley.jpg","articleSection":["Obituaries"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/22726-william-warren-bill-oakley-90-of-newton\/","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/22726-william-warren-bill-oakley-90-of-newton\/","name":"William Warren \"Bill\" Oakley (91) of Newton - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/22726-william-warren-bill-oakley-90-of-newton\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/22726-william-warren-bill-oakley-90-of-newton\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/bill-oakley.jpg","datePublished":"2025-11-11T20:25:29+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-13T16:25:49+00:00","description":"Effingham's News and Sports Leader","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/22726-william-warren-bill-oakley-90-of-newton\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/22726-william-warren-bill-oakley-90-of-newton\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/22726-william-warren-bill-oakley-90-of-newton\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/bill-oakley.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/bill-oakley.jpg","width":107,"height":166},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/22726-william-warren-bill-oakley-90-of-newton\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"William Warren &#8220;Bill&#8221; Oakley (91) of Newton"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/","name":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#organization","name":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/premier-logo-v1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/premier-logo-v1.png","width":272,"height":69,"caption":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/ea4a7a4f3418a551e6319888ef00a8f1","name":"Greg Sapp","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/author\/greg_sapp\/"}]}},"modified_by":"Greg Sapp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22726"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22878,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22726\/revisions\/22878"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}