Gordon Lee McDowell

© Enid News and Eagle

08-06-2013

Submitted by: Glenn

ENID, Okla. — Gordon Lee McDowell was born on July 13, 1923, in Cherokee, the son of Orville and Hattie Millspaugh McDowell and passed from this life on August 3, 2013.

He was raised and educated in Cherokee, graduating from Cherokee High School in 1941, having been named to the Daily Oklahoman’s All State Football Team. He then attended Oklahoma State University, graduating with an electrical engineering degree in January 1949.

Gordon married Madaline June Horne from Medford on December 22, 1943. They celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary before her death on September 10, 2004. They were both longtime members of the United Methodist Church in Cherokee, where he served on the board of trustees and the finance committee. Gordon was an honorary member of the United Methodist Women for all the work done remodeling the church basement.

In January 1949, he joined Phillips Petroleum at their Kansas City refinery in the electrical engineering department. He was co-owner and worked at McDowell Electric in Cherokee for 42 years until his retirement in September 1991. In January 1943, he volunteered for the United States 69th Naval Construction Battalion, where he served at Newfoundland, Canada, U.S. Naval Air Base. The 69th Battalion left for England in June 1944 and prepared for the invasion on Omaha Beach in France.

He later moved from France to England to Belgium to Holland and into Bremen, Germany, and later back to the USA. He was honorably discharged in November 26, 1945.

Gordon has always been active in Cherokee. He served as mayor of Cherokee for 10 years and 12 years on the city council. He is a past trustee chairman and board member for the First United Methodist Church, past president and 42-year member of the Lions Club, Round-Up board member for the Alfalfa Electric Co-op, 18-year board member for the Red Carpet Country Tourism Board, member and past president of the Enid Gem and Mineral Society, founding member of the Cherokee Investment Club, co-founder of the Great Salt Plains Selenite Festival, and deeply involved in Scouting leadership. Gordon was a 40-year member of the Masonic Lodge, and he was a 60-year member of the American Legion Post 33.

He is survived by his children, Cathy Lee McDowell Miller and her husband, Scott, of Overland Park, Kansas, and Michael Eugene McDowell and his wife, Brenda, of Darnestown, Maryland; grandson, Todd Michael Miller of Overland Park, Kansas.

His wife, Madaline, preceded him in death along with a brother, Harold McDowell, and a sister, Harriette Treseder.

Funeral service will be 10:30 a.m. Thursday, August 8, 2013, at the First United Methodist Church in Cherokee with Rev. Robert Duran officiating. Burial will follow at the service at Cherokee Municipal Cemetery with arrangements by Lanman Funeral Home Inc. of Cherokee. Viewing will be from 3 p.m. until 8 p.m. Wednesday with the family present from 5:30 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. Memorials may be given to United Methodist Church New Building Fund through the funeral home. (www.lanmanmemorials.com)

(Submitted by family)

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