Sylvester Mason Sr.
Celebration of Life
June 14, 1932 – June 5, 2025
Services
Saturday, June 21, 2025, 10:00 a.m.
New Heights Christian Center Tulsa, Oklahoma Pastor Terry W. Shannon, Officiating
Sylvester Mason Sr. was born on June 14, 1932, in the historic town of Clearview, Oklahoma. He was the beloved son of Wyatt Mose Mason, Sr. and Veatrice Fidelia Marks Mason and the proud middle child of seven siblings.
From his earliest days, Sylvester carried with him a quiet strength, a deep sense of responsibility, and a heart wired for service.
Educated through the Clearview School System, Sylvester’s early life was rooted in faith, family, and hard work.
He first put his hands to labor as a butcher, but it was his love for mechanics that eventually fueled his entrepreneurial spirit. In the early 1980s, he opened his own auto shop, a place where more than just engines were repaired.
For many, it was a place of wisdom, laughter, and community. Even after relocating the business to his home, Sylvester continued fixing cars and solving problems well into retirement. He was not just a mechanic, he was a craftsman, a troubleshooter, and a man who found joy in putting broken things back together. Whether it was under the hood of a car or tending to the rows in his garden. Sylvester lived with his hands to the plow and his heart rooted in purpose.
His faith journey began early in life at North Fork Baptist Church under the leadership of Rev. Willis.
That same faith would anchor him throughout his years. He later became a member of Timothy Baptist Church in Tulsa under Pastor John. Gilkey sr. and then continued his walk with Christ at New Heights Christian Center under Pastors Terry and Barbaa Shannon. His faith was not just professed, it was practiced.
Sylvester’s legacy was also written in the pages of family.
He married Shirley Grimes, and together they welcomed their son Amos Mason. He later united with Bobbie Jean Bailey, and to their union, eight beautiful children were born: Sylvester Jr., Clayton Sr., Dwayne Sr., Terry Sr., Barbaa, Debra, Regina, and Melisha. In 1971, he married Dorthey Bowens, embracing two more children as his own, Herbert Bowen Sr. and Martha Peevy.
A father of many, a mentor to more, and a pillar in every space he occupied, Sylvester Mason Sr. was a man of quiet dignity and unwavering love. He passed away peacefully on June 5, 2025, just nine days shy of his 93rd birthday. But even in his absence, his legacy lives on in the lives he shaped, the engines he rebuilt, the gardens he grew, and the family he nurtured.
He leaves behind a lineage of strength, resilience, and love. And though he has departed from this earthly life, his spirit remains, whispering through the sound of turning wrenches, blooming in backyard gardens, and echoing in the prayers of those who call him Daddy, Pawpaw, Brother, and Friend.
Preceding him in death are his children: three daughters – Barbara Divens, Regina Mason, Doris Jean Cline and Marhta Peevy, two sons – Clayton Mason and Herbert Bowen; his parents, Wyatt Sr. & Veatrice Marks Mason; wife: Dorthey Mason; four sister: Lottie Beck, Ceola Carter, Juantia Jefferson and Hurldine Walton; two brothers; Nolan Mason, and Wyatt Mose Mason Sr, several aunts, uncles, nephews, and cousins.
He lives to cherish his memory his children, Amos Mason, Sylvester Mason Jr., Debra Webb, Dwayne Mason Sr. Terry Mason, Melisha Mason, and a host of grandchildren, greatgrandchildren, nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.