Robert V. DeLay, age 78, a longtime Yale resident, passed away on Wednesday, April 30, 2008, at his home in Yale.

Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday in the First Baptist Church, Yale. Brother Mich Dershem will officiate. Interment will follow in the Lawson Cemetery, Yale.

Serving as casket bearers will be Dimitri Thornley, Phil Newton, Robert DeLay, Gary Lochary, Skip Newton and Rod Tate.

Arrangements are entrusted to Palmer Marler Funeral Home, Yale.

Robert was born on Sept. 17, 1929, in Maywood, Calif., to Roy V. and Nellie B. (Cobble) DeLay. He grew up in the Yale area attending a one room school in Eagle Elementary and then graduated from Yale High School in 1947. He worked as a boiler maker, making tanks for a couple of years. Robert served his country in the U. S. Army during the Korean Conflict. He married Patricia Russell on Dec. 26, 1958, in the First Christian Church in Sand Springs. Robert attended Oklahoma State University, graduating in 1959 with a bachelor degree; he also received his master’s degree from the University of Nebraska in 1962 and later worked towards a PhD in education from Oklahoma State University. He taught math and physics in Omaha, Neb., Okmulgee, Denver, Colo., and in 1970 moved to Yale to become the high school principal and later served as superintendent of Yale Schools for 21 years. After moving to Yale, they purchased a farm and throughout his career he raised cattle.

He was a member of the O.E.T.A., Lions’ Club, Masonic Lodge and the American Legion. Robert was a life long member of the First Baptist Church. He retired in 1992 and began working part-time as a lineman for rural water association.

Robert is survived by his wife of 49 years, Pat DeLay of the home; sons, Mark S. DeLay and wife, Linda, of Tulsa and Thomas Kurt DeLay and wife, Shelley, of Huntsville, Ala.; daughters, Terrie Scott and husband, Jim, of Collinsville and Linda Sue DeLay of Albuquerque, N.M.; four grandchildren, Robert DeLay and wife, Keri, Lynn Desaire and husband, Tony, Mac DeLay and Kurt DeLay; four great grandchildren, Holden DeLay, Bailey DeLay, Max Desaire and Jessie Desaire; brothers, Clifford DeLay and wife, Barbara, of Claremore and Gary DeLay and wife, Shirley, of Virginia; sisters, Betty Newton of Maramec and Barbara Thornley and husband Johnny of Arizona.

He was preceded in death by his parents and his brother, Harold DeLay.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in Robert’s name to the Judith Karman Hospice, P.O. Box 818, Stillwater, OK 74076.