Buckmaster, Billy Leroy

Cardin Oklahoma [Special] A 17 year old Picher Oklahoma boy was found dead Monday in a water-filled mining pond southeast of Cardin, an apparent drowning victim, according to Ottawa county Oklahoma authorities.

Billy Leroy Buckmaster was found floating face down in a mine pond at about 5 pm. The county medical examiner, Dr. Charles Letcher, ruled the death an accidental drowning. He estimated the boy had been dead for at least 48 hours when his decomposed body was found by three Picher girls, who had gone to the pit to swim.

Sheriff Floyd Ingram, who described the mine pond as a dangerous but often used swimming hole, said the youth had been swimming there Saturday afternoon with some friends, who reportedly left him alone there. The boy was not reported to authorities as missing, he add.

Buckmaster was born Apr 14, 1964, in Baxter Springs Kansas, and had lived in the Picher area for most of his life. He had worked for Glen Berry Manufacturers Inc., Commerce Oklahoma, and with the Tulsa Oklahoma Job Corps branch.

Survivors include his mother, Mrs. Barbara Curry, of the home; his father, Gerald Edward Buckmaster, Summerville Texas; his step-father, Larry Curry, of the home; three brothers, Charles Warren, Kenneth Eugene Warren and Richard Lawrence Warren, all of the home; and a sister, Miss Carla Warren, of the home.

Graveside services will be at 10 am Wednesday in Greenlawn cemetery in Kansas, northwest of Picher and Treece Kansas with the Rev. Lloyd Danley officiating. Burial will be under the direction of the Paul Thomas funeral home, Picher.