Charles Lemuel “Bill” Oakes

The only child of William Telfair Oakes III and Ada Louise (Smith) Oakes, Bill was born on February 27, 1931, in Tendal, Louisiana. A child of the Depression and the Deep South, Bill was raised by his parents, grandmother, stepfather, and other relatives throughout Louisiana and parts of Mississippi. He attended C.E. Byrd High School in Shreveport, Louisiana, playing football and other sports, graduating in 1949, and establishing friendships that endured till the end of his life. Upon his graduation from high school Bill matriculated at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston. While still a student, in 1951 he embarked on a 3-year service in the United States Navy, rising in the ranks to serve as a Radioman on a ship named the USS Clarion River (LSMR-409) in the Korean War.

Bill’s service in the Navy profoundly shaped him, instilling a deep, life-long patriotism, and a hunger for a successful life. In 1954 he matriculated at Centenary College of Louisiana in Shreveport where he studied sciences and mathematics. In 1957, he was accepted to the Baylor College of Dentistry in Dallas, Texas, where he completed his D.D.S. degree in 1961. He then attended the prestigious Eastman Dental Institute in Rochester, New York, achieving a Certificate in Orthodontics in 1964. Returning to Dallas that same year, Bill was granted a faculty position in Orthodontics at his alma mater Baylor and also established a private orthodontics practice in Mesquite, Texas. He remained on the faculty at Baylor for nearly forty years until his retirement in 2003, achieving multiple awards for outstanding teaching during his tenure. He maintained his practice in Mesquite for nearly sixty years, retiring at the end of 2021 at the age of 90. Several cherished employees at his practice worked for him from the 1980s until his retirement. He and his practice proudly earned the Readers’ Choice Award for Best Orthodontics by The Mesquite News. His office was known by generations of Mesquite and surrounding areas’ students and families as the best place to obtain perfectly aligned teeth and a beautiful smile.

Not long after joining the faculty at Baylor, Bill met Carol Robinson, a pharmacist. They were married in Dallas in 1965, and raised three children – Todd, Amy, and Raenie. In 2001, Bill and Carol parted amicably. On July 10, 2002, Bill married Julie Kolbensvik in Jefferson, Texas, becoming a loving father of her two teenage daughters Alison and Brooke. After their wedding and until his recent passing, Bill and Julie shared their life together, residing in their beautiful home by the shore of Lake Whitney. Bill’s love of his entire family was immense. Until the end, “Poppa Bill” (as his grandchildren knew him) never hesitated to share the accomplishments of all his children and grandchildren with anyone who was near, whether close friend or friendly stranger.

Bill was a man of strong convictions. Those who knew him well knew where he stood on important matters, among them his love of country, his stances on current affairs, and his favorite avenues to health and longevity. His hobbies were many and varied, but some stand out. He was an avid fisherman, thrilled to catch anything from freshwater crappie to deep-sea marlin. He was a golfer, driven by the elusive conquest of the perfect swing. For years, he trained as a long-distance runner and completed three marathons, including the venerable Boston Marathon. As a dentist, he enjoyed using his skillful hands, which produced high-flying kites, delicately filleted fish, and intricately constructed tree houses. He relished cuisines from Mexican ceviche to flatbread pizza to Thai curry. Nothing on earth delighted Poppa Bill more than to bring family together for a meal at a favorite haunt and to share his passions, his counsel, his stories, his memories.

Bill was preceded in death by his father and mother, William T. Oakes III and Ada L. Ashley.

He will be forever loved and missed by his wife Julie Kolbensvik Oakes; his children Todd Oakes, Amy [Erik] Harrington, Raenie [John] Roberts, Anna [Danny] Panter, Alison [Blake] Pankonien, and Brooke [Kaleb] Soper; his grandchildren William, Rider, Shepard, Katherine, David, Emma, Addison, Dairinn, Jarrett, Kamryn, Blake, Jackson, Sutton, and Juliette; his half-sister BJ [Paul] Arcenaux; as well as his cousins, niece, nephew, and treasured friends.