Sunray, OK

Sunray is a Stephens County census-designated place south of Duncan along US 81. It is also known as Beckett, and older county highway maps show both Sunray Village and Beckett in the same part of the county. The community's position is tied to the former Duncan refinery property nearby. From the 1920s through 1947, the site made aviation fuel; from 1947 until its 1983 closure, it operated as an oil refinery and hydrocarbon storage facility, employing as many as 400 people at its peak. The refinery structures were removed, leaving the parcel's industrial history beside homes and agricultural land.

Sunray's present school connection reaches Comanche Public Schools, whose elementary, middle, and high schools are grouped at 1030 Ash Avenue in Comanche. US 81 keeps the settlement tied to Duncan and the surrounding Stephens County roads, while the former refinery parcel is back in the regional conversation: a 2026 management agreement put it under an economic-development group for cleanup, marketing, and possible new industry. Sunray remains an unincorporated place, so its story is read through the road, the school bus route, the old refinery footprint, and the homes spread across the county's oil-and-farm landscape.