John Churchwell, 87, passed away Sunday, November 29, 2015 in Dallas, TX. He was born to Ernest and Laura Davis Churchwell in Shawnee on April 8, 1929, the first of their three children. John attended Tulsa schools and graduated from Tulsa Will Rogers High School in 1947. He also attended Rice University for three years then transferred to Oklahoma State University where he graduated with a BSME in 1952. While at OSU, he was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. After more than 32 years with McDonnell Douglas, he retired in 1985.

John was preceded in death by his parents; first wife, Norma Briggs Churchwell and their infant son, Derek and his wife of 58 years, Dorothy Sims Churchwell.

He is survived by his daughter, Elizabeth Churchwell Pritner and her husband, Rolla, of Broken Arrow; son, Bradley Churchwell and his wife, Pam, of Lake Forest, CA; son, Jeffrey Churchwell and his wife, Sandra of Canton, TX; sister, Nancy Churchwell Marrs, of Houston, TX; brother, Pete Churchwell and his wife, Sandy, of Grove; eight grandchildren, Kate and husband John Shupper, Tom, Maddie, Susan, Stephanie, Jason and wife Kristal, Sarah, and Chris; two step-grandchildren, Andy and Mitch Guame; eleven great-grandchildren, Adeline, Andrew, Caden, Charlotte, Cole, Kylie, Joshua, Oliver, River, Saxon and Seth; as well as six nieces, one nephew, and numerous cousins.

He was very active for a number of years in Central Florida and Southern California coaching youth baseball, in the Episcopalian church and was a commissioned Lay Reader. He loved baseball and played amateur, semi-pro and college baseball for more than 16 years including the years at Rice. In 1947, he was one of the first two Will Rogers High School players ever selected to the Oklahoma All State High School baseball team.

He was extremely proud of and thankful for his participation as a Douglas Aircraft and McDonnell Douglas employee in development, test and launch operations for many of our nation's early ballistic missile and satellite activities (Test Conductor for Thor, Delta and Skybolt. Quality and Safety Assurance for Saturn Apollo) and later in support of design, manufacture, development and test activities with the Skylab Orbital Workshop, the joint US and USSR—Apollo-Soyez, the Space Transportation System and the Space Station programs/projects. His last and probably most interesting and challenging assignment was as Director of Quality Assurance and Safety with McDonnell Douglas for the USAF F-15 program in Saudi Arabia from mid 1981-1984. During this period, John and Dorothy were able to do a great deal of traveling both within Saudi Arabia and many other places of interest around the world. From early 1989-2000, he performed a number of Space Station related contract assignments for Boeing in both Houston, TX and Tulsa, OK. From that time through mid 2008, he was very active as a volunteer with the Tulsa Air and Space Museum.

Viewing will be held from 12-8 p.m., Friday, December 4, at Moore's Southlawn Chapel, 9350 East 51st, Tulsa. Funeral service will be held 10 a.m., Saturday, December 5, in the Memorial Park Cemetery Chapel, 5115 S. Memorial, Tulsa. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his memory to Alzheimer's Research. Moore's Southlawn 918-663-2233. www.moorefuneral.com


To send flowers or a memorial gift to the family of John Howard Churchwell please visit our Sympathy Store.