Donald McGowan

(From Hedge-Lewis-Goodwin Funeral Home)

Donald Frederick McGowan died Wednesday, March 9, at his home in Webb City, Missouri.

McGowan was born October 8, 1939, in Belleville, Kansas. He lived there until he was 14, when his family moved to Kansas City, Missouri. He graduated from Kansas City's Southeast High School in 1957.

McGowan attended Rockhurst College in the late 1950s and the University of Kansas in the early 1960s. He served in the U.S. Air Force, stationed briefly in Hawaii, Colorado and finally at Richards-Gebaur Air Reserve Station south of Kansas City.

He married Carolyn Lee Effertz in 1964. They moved to Joplin in 1968, six months after the birth of their first child, Donald Matthew McGowan. Their second child, Andrew Carroll McGowan, who goes by “Bubba,” was born in 1971.

With his father, McGowan owned and operated Universal Industrial Pump, which served farms and municipalities primarily in southwest Missouri, although some jobs sent them to Arkansas and Texas. McGowan sold the business in the late 1980s.

For the next several years he worked odd jobs in semiretirement and helped his wife restore and maintain the Unity Building in downtown Webb City.

In the 1980s McGowan served as president of Webb City Youth Baseball. He served on the Webb City Park Board from 2008 to 2022. For many years he served on the board and delivered meals for the Webb City Senior Citizens Center. He also served on the Webb City Housing Authority, most recently as president.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Donald Joseph and Leola M. (Campmier) McGowan.

McGowan is survived by his wife Carolyn, sons Matt and Bubba, Matt’s wife Janine Parry, grandchildren Emma, Charlie, Juliet, Andrew and Nora, Juliet’s fiancé Zach, and step-grandchildren Kate and Paul Schreckhise. His siblings, Gary McGowan and Aileen Welsh, died previously.

McGowan loved newspapers, old cars, plants, trees, flowers, maps, books, coins, movies, the Chiefs, the Jayhawks, and all animals, especially Phoebe and his dogs Millie and Jack.

The family is planning a memorial service for May.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Joplin Humane Society or Sierra Club.