Final Salute

Gregg Lewis Layman, Jr. Obituary

Gregg Lewis Layman, Jr. was born March 8, 1925, in Okmulgee, OK, to Gregg L. and Gladys Layman.

He passed away January 26, 2020.

He attended Will Rogers High School until his junior year when the family moved to Vancouver, WA, to work in the Naval Shipyards during the World War II effort. At 18 Gregg enlisted in the U.S. Navy Seabees and was stationed on the island of Tulagi in the Solomon Islands. He officially graduated from Tulsa’s Will Rogers High School as a member of the Class of 1945.

Gregg returned to Tulsa after WWII’s end to marry (literally) the girl next door, Dorothy Hensley. They were married 62 years until her death in 2008. Their marriage was extraordinary and they were a loving example to all who knew them.

Gregg retired from a career in the sheet-metal industry, where he worked on both sides of the Union line as a leader to journeymen. He was of a last generation to work sheet-metal math by hand. He taught, eye to eye, a later generation of workers to do the same.

Gregg spent many happy years traveling America and the World. Together with his wife, Dorothy and their family, Gregg traveled extensively across the U.S. and to more than 20 countries across the globe. He reunited many from his WWII Seabees unit, apart for 50 years, and had several fun reunions with the men and their families.

He is survived by his sister, Beverly Luhman, of Bixby; by his daughters, Susan Layman and Peggy Welch; his grandson, Stephen Gregory Layman; great-grandsons, Whitman and Eliot Layman; their mother, JulieAnn Dill; his brother-in-law, Robert Hensley; and many nieces and nephews, all of whom he loved deeply.

Unfailingly honest and trustworthy, Gregg always did what was right and honorable. He was exceptionally independent and self-sufficient. Gregg was a loving father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and friend to all and was generous with his gifts, his talents, and his Life. He was fully devoted to loving and caring for his family, and joyfully introducing them, and all who heard his tales, to the treasures of the World. Gregg’s kind and generous spirit will continue to comfort all who knew him for years to come.

A memorial service is scheduled at 2:00 p.m., Saturday, February 8, in the Chapel of First Presbyterian Church, 709 S. Boston Ave., Tulsa. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to Will Rogers School Endowment, First Presbyterian Church Foundation, both of Tulsa, or to the charity of their choice.