Robert W. McDowell, Jr., a World War II Army Air Corps veteran and a petroleum industry consultant, died on January 1 after a lengthy illness. He was 94.

A memorial service is scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday, January 8, at Moore’s Southlawn Chapel, 9350 E. 51st Street .

McDowell wrote more than 500 columns that appeared in the Tulsa Beacon on a weekly basis for more than 10 years. Local politics was his favorite topic.

“Bob was an inspiration to so many people,” said Tulsa Beacon editor Charles Biggs. “His column was very popular and he was a great supporter of the Tulsa Beacon. He will be missed.”

In 1990, McDowell was a candidate for the Oklahoma House of Representatives in Tulsa County. In 1996, he was a candidate for the Oklahoma Senate, and in 2000, he was a presidential elector for Republican President George W. Bush.

McDowell was elected Republican Party Chairman of Delaware County in 1999 and served four years.

He was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Craig County Airport Trust Authority, which operates the South Grand Lake Airport at Ketchum.

He attended Lee Elementary, Horace Mann Junior High, Central High and Cascia Hall Preparatory School in Tulsa. He studied aeronautical engineering at The University of Tulsa and he earned his private pilot license. He helped re-activate the Delta Sigma Zi fraternity that was inactive due to World War II.

McDowell entered military service in the Medical Department of the Air Forces of the Army of the United States in 1945 toward the end of World War II.

After the war, he went back to TU to study geological engineering. He transferred to The University of Oklahoma where he got his engineering degree in 1950.

His first engineering job was with Continental Oil Company in Denver, Colorado (also in Wyoming and Oklahoma City). He worked at Anderson Pritchard Oil Corporation in Wichita Falls, Texas.

He became a private energy consultant in Denver from 1952 until 1986.

It was there that he married the former Grace D. Schindler White and they had children: Dianne L. McDowell; Lt. Cmd. Robert W. McDowell, III, USNR (retired); Thomas McDowell of Littleton, Colorado; Mary Faye M. Pekas of Aurora, Colorado; and Daniel M. McDowell of Kansas City, Missouri.

He was a lifelong member of the Presbyterian Church. He was baptized at First Presbyterian Church of Tulsa, where he attended Sunday School and was an usher. He served as a trustee at Bear Creek Presbyterian Church in Lakewood, Colorado, and there he founded and was first president of the Presbyterian Law Commission (Denver Chapter). He later transferred his membership to Kirk of the Hills Church in Tulsa, where he has been for more than a decade.

McDowell was a former member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, American Institute of Professional Geologist, Society of Petroleum Engineers; National Aeronautical Association of Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association and other professional groups.

He served 20 years in the Boy Scouts of America in various leadership positions.

McDowell was a charter member of the Falcon Quarterback Club (now of the Air Force Academy) after the academy was established at Lowry Air Force Base.

He was a former member of the Petroleum Club in Tulsa and was active in the Civil Air Patrol (he started a squadron in Denver). He was also a Mason.

McDowell was the founding president of the Republican Assembly Chapter in Tulsa and was active in several Republican clubs, including the revived Tulsa County Republican Men’s Club.

McDowell was born Neil Carson on October 30, 1926, in Kansas City, Missouri. ON January 29, 1927, he was adopted by Mary B. Cannon McDowell and Robert Wright McDowell (then living in Waterloo, Iowa). In 1928, the family moved to Tulsa. McDowell’s adopted parents passed away in 1982 and 1989.

McDowell’s wife, Anne V. N. Solliday White McDowell, and his step-daughter, Dee Anne White Avers of Broken Arrow died prior to his death.

He is survived by his children, and two step-children: Robert M. White of Tulsa and Jeannie Solliday White Byquist of Salina, Kansas, and nine grandchildren.

Donations can be made to the building fund of Kirk of the Hills Church, the Salvation Army or the Akdar Shrine Roll of Honor.