Myron (Mike) Willis Gwinner, Sr., passed from this life into the arms of Jesus on Friday, April 20, 2018, in Tulsa, OK. All are invited to a memorial service at University Village Retirement Community in Tulsa, OK, on Sunday, May 27, 2018, at 2:00 p.m. He will be honored later with remembrances at family home sites near Collins and Hermann, MO, and laid to rest with his wife in Hendersonville, SC.
Mike was born in St. Louis, MO, on May 10, 1935. He was a 1953 graduate of Maplewood-Richmond Heights High School in St. Louis, and a 1957 graduate of The University of Missouri - Columbia, earning a BA from the School of Forestry.
During high school he was an Eagle Scout and member of the Order of the Arrow, a member of the cross-country team, and spent several summers fighting forest fires in Oregon. During college he was a member of the ROTC, and five academic and social fraternities.
Throughout the 1960's, as a member of the U.S. Forest Service, he hiked the woods of Louisiana, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, primarily as a land surveyor. Also during this time, he served two years as a Lieutenant in the Air Force, issuing weather forecasts for Air Force pilots. Then, he surveyed the creeks and rivers of Pennsylvania during the 1970's and 80's as a Hydrologist with the National Weather Service, saving many lives with timely flood warnings, and along with the rest of the Harrisburg office, received a Gold Medal Citation for exceptional flood forecasting during Hurricane Agnes in 1972. He served his nation and the government of the United States for over 35 years, with stops in Charleston, SC; Sewanee, TN; Alexandria, LA; Beckley, WV; Harrisburg, PA; and Tulsa, OK. He always said that the Air Force sent him to Charleston, SC, just so he could meet his wife, Marian Elizabeth Miller of Charleston. They were married in the First Scots Presbyterian Church of Charleston on November 11, 1959, and when they returned from their honeymoon his discharge papers had arrived!
Mike accepted Christ and was baptized as an adult at Jackson Street Presbyterian Church of Alexandria, LA, and from that day forward he led his family in a life of service to God. His later involvement with Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship and the David Ebaugh Bible School influenced family members' lives for high school, college, and career.
His hobbies included hiking the outdoors, researching genealogy, Civil War history (including extensive research on Gen. George Walker), reading, Bible study, and travel. His travels with Marian included four trips to Israel and the Middle East: two with the David Ebaugh Bible School in the 1970's and two with Kirk of the Hills Presbyterian Church (Tulsa, OK) in the 1990's. They also visited Hawaii and Cancun, Mexico, with the Oral Roberts University basketball teams. Mike was a 25-year member of the Golden Eagle Club of Oral Roberts University (Tulsa, OK), attending almost all men's and women's basketball games during those years.
As a volunteer, he cleared brush, checked property lines, and blazed trails with the Tulsa Corps of Engineers and at Christian Camps in Missouri and Michigan; built wheelchair ramps with Kirk Carpenters (Kirk of the Hills Presbyterian Church); and after training with Samaritan's Purse, he assisted flood victims in Missouri, Louisiana, and Texas...as recently as October 2017. He was an active member of the Alumni Association of the University of Missouri, a member of the Advisory Board of the University's School of Natural Resources, and represented the Gwinner family through a scholarship fund which will continue to reward students of that School.
Myron W. Gwinner was proceeded in death by his mother Mary Helen Corwin Gwinner, who died when he was just a child; his father G. Myron Gwinner; his stepmother Ethel Murch Gwinner; his wife of nearly 53 years, Marian Elizabeth Miller Gwinner; and his brother, David Corwin Gwinner. He is survived by his daughter Laura S. Krohn (Stephen) of Tulsa, OK; son Myron W. Gwinner, Jr., (Leah) of Onsted, MI; son Matthew L. Gwinner (Angela) of Tulsa, OK; seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren; five nieces and nephews; and many dear friends. Our Dad will be remembered and honored for his stories, love of genealogy, travels records, and his big, tender heart. He loved his family, his church, his work, the outdoors, Christian Camping, the Forest Service, the University of Missouri, Oral Roberts University, and Golden Eagle basketball; but foremost, he loved his Lord, Jesus Christ. He is now a joyful part of that great cloud of witnesses, greatly missed as he and Mom watch over us, but a part of all we do in this life going forward.

Moore Funeral Home - Southlawn Chapel 918-663-2233