Douglas Edward McCracken, 84, of Bartlesville, OK, passed away peacefully after a life well lived on February 7, 2023, in Tulsa, OK. Doug was a proud father, loving husband, diligent businessman and accountant, caring teacher/mentor, and faithful Christian.
He was born November 24, 1938, Thanksgiving Day, in Pittsburgh, PA to Guy and Margaret (Ripley) McCracken. Doug's father, also born on Thanksgiving Day, was a seismograph chief for Gulf Oil Corporation and his mother was the first college educated Registered Nurse in the history of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. For the first eleven years of Doug's life the family moved to five different states and twenty different homes while his father searched for crude oil to support the war (WWII) effort. The family eventually settled in Tulsa, OK, where Doug graduated from Will Rogers High School, Class of 1957. Doug went on to graduate from the University of Oklahoma with a B.A. in Political Science in 1961, where he was a member of Delta Upsilon fraternity, and then received a Masters of Business Administration (Accounting) in 1963.
After graduating with his MBA, he went to work at the Peat, Marwick, Mitchel accounting firm, received his CPA, and then had a long career at Phillips Petroleum Company where he held various positions, including Controller of subsidiary Applied Automation, Inc. Doug volunteered in his community to support his children's interests by serving as President of the US Little League of Bartlesville, Auditor of Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church, and was a Sunday School Teacher at the First United Methodist Church.
Upon retiring from Phillips, Doug taught accounting at Oklahoma State University of Tulsa and Bartlesville Wesleyan College and became the Treasurer of the Shadow Lake Village Association. He also served multiple roles at Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church, including his election to two consecutive terms on the Church Session.
Doug was proud of both his McCracken and Ripley family heritage. Doug was a lifelong Presbyterian, with a long history of church service, as his grandfather, two uncles, and a greatgrandfather were all ordained Presbyterian ministers. Doug's mother's family founded Ripley Glass Company in Pittsburgh, PA, which operated from the 1880's to the early 1920's. Doug said his father was his role model and that his mother taught him to always contribute to the world around him.
Doug married Janet Ruth Hinkle of Bartlesville, OK, thirteen months after meeting on a blind date while in college. They were happily married for over sixty-two years. She survives him along with their four children, John Douglas McCracken (Bartlesville), Michael Edward McCracken (Tulsa), Kenneth William McCracken (Fairfax, VA), and Kerry Anne Shields (Broken Arrow), nine grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. Doug is also survived by his sister-in-law, Jenny McCracken and niece Sarah Yost (both of Wichita, KS); his cousins Leslie McCracken (St. Simons Island, GA), Nancy Anderson (Littlestown, PA), Trudy del Toro (Peoria, AZ) and Betty Clough (Bradenton, FL); as well as Janet's family, William and Kathryn Hinkle (Tulsa), Don and Penny Hinkle (Oak Bluffs, MA), along with three nieces and a nephew. Doug's younger brother, Robert Alan McCracken, pre-deceased him in 2008.
A celebration of his life will be held in Broken Arrow on March 18, 2023.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in Doug's name to Clarehouse in Tulsa, OK (
www.clarehouse.org/donate
).