Jim O’Leary

Jim was a son of God, A Husband, A father, navy veteran, a master machinist, a process improvement engineer, and a man who believed a house and a shop should both be places where people are made better. He graduated from McLain Senior High in Tulsa in 1969 and served in the United States Navy from 1969 to 1975. After a hard season that sent him west with little more than a truck and a BBQ smoker, he met Sandra on a Labor Day weekend in 1983 in Marcola, Oregon. In January 1984 he returned to the Lord and they married October 27, 1984, then on he was, in Sandra’s words, a man of God. They welcomed their son Ryan Michael O’Leary into the world on September 6th, 1985. Together they began Living Hope Ministry for unwed mothers, and they later adopted Magenta and Scott.

His working life was forty years of making shops faster, more honest, and more skilled—toolmaker, manufacturing manager, senior manufacturing engineer, process improvement specialist. Coworkers said he stayed calm under pressure, trained the people around him, and would not let quality slip. He retired January 1st, 2020 and later returned to work with Orizon Aerostructures in Grove.

He is survived by his wife, Sandra; their children; and a wide circle of family, church, and shop friends. A Celebration of Life will be Saturday, October 3, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. at Church on the Hill, 1005 Leisure Road, Grove, Oklahoma.

Arrangements are under the direction of Ozark Memorial Park of Neosho, MO.