Tributes

Ralph Douglas (Doug) McDowell was born on August 17, 1942 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts to Ralph Dixon and Agnes E. McDowell. He graduated in 1960 from Pittsfield High School and from the University of Massachusetts in 1965 with a Civil Engineering degree. He then served in the United States Air Force at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona and Shu Lin Kou Air Station, Taiwan in the base civil engineering corps. He was honorably discharged as a Captain in 1970. Doug met Constance Beaudoin while in High School, and he and Connie were married in 1962. They had three children, Nancy, Jeff and Mike. They later divorced, but remained geographically close. After discharge from the Air Force, Doug, Connie and family moved to West Linn, Oregon, where the children were raised. He worked as an estimator and project manager for Teeples and Thatcher, Inc. constructing many commercial and industrial buildings in the area. In 1977, he started the Ralph D. McDowell Corporation, specializing in the construction or alteration of paper mill, power plant and other industrial projects, as well as commercial projects such as churches and schools. He ran that business for 24 years until his retirement in 2001. In 1995 Doug married Lynda Branstator. Doug and Lynda spent many years in service to their church, King of Kings Lutheran in Milwaukie, OR. Doug volunteeredmany years in service to, and was board chair of Lutheran Family Services, Lutheran Community Services Northwest and Northwest Parish Nurse Ministries. He saw it necessary to step back from many of these pursuits when diagnosed with small cell lung cancer in the spring of 2011. He will be remembered for his joy of life, his incessant corny humor and for his emotional strength when faced with cancer. He and Lynda enjoyed worldwide travel, and Doug often said that his most enjoyable trips were to Greece and the Aegean Sea, especially the ruins at Ephesus and Corinth, and to Cairo and ancient Egypt. Doug leaves behind his loving and devoted wife Lynda, daughter Nancy and husband Rob (Charlottesville, VA), son Jeff (Ed) and wife Christina (Seattle, WA), son Mike (Bend, OR), step-daughter Heidi and husband Corey (Salem, OR), and brother Roger and wife Betty (Falmouth, MA) and their children George, David, Nancy and Cheryl. He also leaves behind five grandchildren: Matthew, Johnny, Nate, Edmund and Mariah. In lieu of flowers, the family recommends donations in Doug's memory to the King of Kings Lutheran Church Endowment Fund, the Children's Fund at the Lutheran Community Services Foundation, or the Northwest Parish Nurse Endowment Fund. ""If we live, we live unto the Lord. If we die, we die unto the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die we are the Lord's"" -- St. Paul; Romans 14:8

Tributes

Ralph Douglas McDowell

August 17, 1942 - January 19, 2014