Obit of Gowdy, Billy Ray - Cimarron County, Oklahoma

Submitted by:  Gene Phillips  <okarchives@comcast.net>    17 Oct 2008
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::Fairlawn Cemetery--Elk City OK

Gowdy, Billy Ray

A Prayer Vigil for Billy Ray Gowdy will be held at 7 p.m., Thursday, 
February 27, in the St. Matthew Catholic Church of Elk City with Mass 
of Christian Burial set for 10 a.m., Friday, February 28, in the St. 
Matthew Catholic Church with Rev. Father Fuller as Celebrant. 
Interment will follow in the Fairlawn Cemetery under the direction of 
the Martin Funeral Home of Elk City. Billy Ray Gowdy was born 
December 24, 1928 at Elk City to William Logan and Gladys (Andris) 
Gowdy and passed away Monday at the age of 74. He graduated from Elk 
City High School in 1947. While in high school he was a member of the 
Honor Society, President of FFA, member of the Student Council, an 
Eagle Scout and won the state individual livestock judging contest 
twice. He received his Agriculture Economics Degree with honors from 
Oklahoma State University in 1951. While at OSU he was a member of 
Phi Kappa Gamma, Phi Gamma Phi and Kappa Sigma and was a member of 
the Flying Farmers of Oklahoma. Gowdy later moved to Cimarron County 
where he started farming and developed an extensive irrigation 
program. Beginning in 1971 until 1975, Billy Ray was the Commissioner 
of Agriculture for the State of Oklahoma. He has been president of 
the Oklahoma Wheat Growers Association and a member of the Board of 
the National Wheat Growers Association. He received the Outstanding 
Young Farmer of Oklahoma award from the National Junior Chamber of 
Commerce. Gowdy has served on the Board of the State School Land 
Commission, State Pollution Control Board, the State Equalization 
Board, Oklahoma Cattleman's Association, the Oklahoma Pork Commission 
as well the Oklahoma State University and A & M Colleges Board of 
Regents from 1976 until 1979. He was appointed Chairman of the 
Oklahoma State Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Committee 
(A.S.C.S.) by President Jimmy Carter. Through the years he served on 
many advisory boards including: the National Advisory Board to the 
National Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Oklahoma 
Development Authority and the USDA National Meat Pricing Task Force. 
He also received the first award presented as the outstanding 
graduate of the Oklahoma State University's Department of 
Agricultural Economics. Gowdy was selected by President Carter as the 
US Assistant Secretary of Agriculture over ASCA, Farm Programs and 
Federal Crop Insurance. Billy Ray was married to Sharon McCellen on 
May 4, 1976. Together they were founders and stockholders of the 
Cimarron Feed Lots in Cimarron County which they later sold and he 
was a board member and stockholder of the Cimarron Elevator. He was 
inducted in the Western Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1999. Billy was a 
member of the St. Matthew Catholic Church, the Knights of Columbus 
and was a member of the Founding Board of the Oklahoma Catholic 
Foundation, and was nominated and accepted into the Knights of the 
Holy Sepulchre by Pope John Paul. He was preceded in death by his 
parents and one daughter, Patricia. Survivors include his wife Sharon 
Gowdy of the home; 7 children; Ann Carson and her husband Brad, of 
Joplin, MO; Beth Giles and her husband Phil, of Arlington, TX; Mary 
Catherine Herrold and her husband Jack, of Tulsa, OK; John William 
Gowdy and his wife Dee, of Bristow; OK, Catherine McGoldrick and her 
husband Pat, of Moore, OK; Cheryl Rayner and her husband Mark, of 
Houston, TX and John Goode and his wife Rita, of Ft. Worth, TX; his 
sister, Shirley Carey; of Elk City; 13 grandchildren and 4 great 
grandchildren.Memorials may be made to: Catholic Charities and New 
Season Hospice of Elk City.

Published in the Oklahoman on 2/26/2003.
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