Billy Ray Spann, Jr.

Billy Ray Spann, Jr., 71, of Olustee, Oklahoma, passed away with his daughter by his side, on September 28, 2025. Billy was born on October 10, 1953, in Albuquerque, New Mexico to Olivia Spann (Hunkeapillar) and Billy Spann Sr. He was one of five children. Billy lived in several different places throughout his childhood, but his favorite place was California. Life in California was filled with love and fun.

In 1974, Billy enlisted in the United States Army, serving honorably as a cannon crewman. During his service, he was awarded the Driver’s Badge, the National Defense Service Medal, the Gunner Badge (Second Class), Marksman (Rifle M-16), and was a Hand Grenade Expert. His time in service was cut short when he was medically discharged, under honorable conditions, in 1980, but his dedication to his country was lifelong.

He married Teresa Smith, and they welcomed a baby girl, Jessica, in November of 1993, and she was his whole world. He worked at Walmart on the night shift stocking the shelves. He could always be found walking around the store with this huge bag of David’s Sunflower seeds.

Billy will be remembered as a loving and proud father, and grandfather. To his granddaughter, Bayleigh, he was lovingly known as “PeePaw”. He never said no to playing whatever game she wanted him to play. He beamed with pride when doing science experiments with her. They created memories full of laughter, learning, and love. He also deeply loved his newest granddaughter, Jemma, who will grow up knowing of his love for his family, and all-things science. To some he was known as Nitro…If you know you know.

From a young age Billy was always interested in how things worked. His mother has story after story about him taking various things apart and putting them back together just to better understand how they worked. If you ever mentioned ANYTHING about space to him, you had to be prepared for ALL the facts that he knew about the specific subject you mentioned. There are three questions that he ALWAYS asked his daughter, who, now, asks her children, and they were, “Who was the first man on the moon?”; “What is the deepest part of the ocean?”; and “What was the tallest mountain in the world before they discovered Mt. Everest?”. Billy would want to provide the answers to you, so, here they are, the first man on the moon was Neil Armstrong, in 1969; the Mariana Trench is the deepest part of the ocean; and the tallest mountain in the world was still Mt. Everest, they just hadn’t discovered it yet.

He was a loving and thought-provoking dad. He took every opportunity he had to have you learn something new. Some of Billy’s favorite hobbies were flying RC airplanes, cooking, shooting off rockets, and looking at space through his telescopes. Those were hobbies he loved to have his family join him in doing. Billy was the type of man that had so much knowledge about so many things and there was never a dull conversation with him. He was so deeply loved and will be greatly missed by his family, and all that knew him.

He is preceded in death by his father, Billy Spann Sr.; and brother, James (Jimmy) Spann.

Billy leaves behind his mother, Olivia Spann; wife, Teresa Spann; siblings, Johnny Spann, and wife, Donna, Sharon DeWeese, Sherry Spann (wife of Jimmy), and David, and wife, Chara; child, Jessica Hunter, and husband, T.J.; grandchildren, Bayleigh and Jemma Hunter; along with many cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends.

Billy’s family is happy to announce for his service he will finally get that trip to the moon! With the help of Celestis Memorial Spaceflights, a portion of Billy’s cremated remains will be sent to the moon aboard the Lunar Prospector spacecraft. To learn more about Billy’s journey please follow this link: https://celestis.memorialspaceflights.com/how-it-works. 

Inurnment will be at 9:00 AM on Friday, October 10, 2025, at Fort Sill National Cemetery. Full military honors will be rendered by the United States Army. Online tributes may be shared at www.kincannonfuneralhome.com.