Submitted by

Vicki Ebert

Blackwell Shocked By Word of Death Of Will Kistler

Word was received at about 2:30 Tuesday afternoon from Tulsa by relatives here that Will Kistler had just passed away at that place.
Word came Monday that he had been taken ill while on a hunting trip, and was considered dangerous,, that a specialist had been sent for from Kansas City to see if it could be determined just what his ailment was. Mr. and Mrs. N. D. Kistler expected to leave for Tulsa this morning but did not get away. They will leave this evening.
Will Kistler had grown to manhood in Blackwell and his life had practically been spent in this city until he went to Tulsa a few years ago.
He graduated from the Blackwell high school, and the first years of his business life were spent here. He was connected with the Oklahoma Guaranty bank for several years, and held the position of assistant cashier when he severed his connection with that institution.
In both business and social life he made a host of warm friends to whom the news of his death will come as a sad shock.

Detailed Account Of the Death of Wm. F. Kistler

Wm. F. Kistler, sales manager and vice president of the Producers and Refiners corporation died Tuesday at the family home at 515 South Carson after a short illness, and his death came as a surprise and shock to the entire fraternity.
Mr. Kistler was born in Atchison, Kans., 29 years ago, but moved with his parents when a boy to Blackwell, Okla., where he was reared and where he attained a prominent position, being cashier of the Oklahoma Guaranty bank until 1917, when he joined the army and served as a lieutenant in the quartermaster’s corps at Camp Travis. Leaving the army he came to Tulsa as sales manager for the Producers and Refiners corporation.
He leaves a wife and a boy about 2 ½ years of age who are receiving the sympathy of a wide circle of friends. W. L. Kistler, vice president and general manager, who was in New York, is en route home for the funeral.
Mr. Kistler’s death was due to a hemorrhage caused by a fracture of the skull at the base of the brain and the manner in which it occurred is likely to remain a mystery. He had accompanied Jack Bates of the Roxana Petroleum corporation to a favorite camping spot 20 miles west of Copan in the wildest part of Osage, where the two were met by a couple of Roxana employee with a large pack of hounds and this being one of the most enjoyable trips open to oil men in Tulsa, as Mr. Bates and his men are famous wolf hunters.
Arriving at Dripping Spring, the camp ground, they found that the dogs could not work on account of a recent forest fire, and so it was decided to wait until the dew fell. Building a camp and a big fire, the entire party retired only to be awakened at midnight by the cry of the hounds, who had stirred up a wolf and were in full pursuit.
Mr. Kistler did not go with the party on the trail of the hounds, saying that be preferred to sleep awhile longer, but appeared to be in the best of health. It was about four hours later that the party returned and found him leaning against a tree and very ill with nausea. He was immediately given treatment and not feeling better was brought home, arriving here about 11 a.m. Sunday.
He did not show that he was ill except that he had but very little to say. Said Mr. Bates, and simply repeated after some statements that I made as for instance, when we were at Bartlesville I asked him if we had not better have a doctor, or had we better hurry home, and he then said “hurry home.” How he came by the bruise at the base of the skull is a mystery and the only solution we have to offer is that he may have gotten up and fainted and fell on some rocks.
After an illness of but two days, William F. Kistler, vice president and general sales manager of the Producers and Refiners corporation of Tulsa and Denver, died at noon Tuesday, at his home, 1515 South Carson avenue.
He was 29 years old, a native of Atchison, Kan., and a resident of Oklahoma almost all of his life. Besides his wife, a 2 ½ year old son, and his parents, the latter of Blackwell, survive.
Mr. Kistler was either hurt or fell while on a hunting trip Sunday in the Osage and was brought home in a semi-conscious condition. Physicians could not understand what ailed Mr. Kistler, and after his death a post mortem examination revealed that an injury to his spine and a concussion of the brain were the contributing causes of his demise.
Mr. Kistler was very popular among the refinery sales managers of the Mid-Continent fields, having been with the P. & R. since December, 1918 when he left the army. Before the war he was with the Oklahoma Guaranty Bank at Blackwell. - Tulsa World.

Mr. And Mrs. W. D. Kistler of Atchison, Kan., a brother of N. D. Kistler, came in Thursday to attend the funeral of his nephew, Will Kistler.

Mrs. F. M. Leforce came in Wednesday evening from Amarillo, Texas, and is at the parental N. D. Kistler home, as is also Mr. And Mrs. L. J. McDonald of Pawhuska.

Mrs. C. N. Swiheart of Nevada City, Iowa, came in Thursday, called by the death of her brother, the late Will Kistler.