Charles Everette Bowlin Jr.

He was born in Okemah, ok. Grew up in rural Ok. in the oil patch. His father was a pumper for SunRay DX. Dad Charles E Bowlin sr. mom Opal Juanita Cue. 2 sisters Beryle and JoAnne he was the middle child. His horse Sam was his best friend on the lease in Osage County.

The family moved to Cromwell during dad’s high school years in the oil boom. There he met his sweetheart Orene, whose father was the local barber. He was often seen in the “Honky Tonks” around the area. He loved to dance to the big band sounds.

He was drafted in the Army Air Force and did a tour of duty in England, France, Germany, and Belgium, while Orene waited in Tulsa with his family and her mother, she helped in the war effort as a “Rosy the Riveter” until his return. He wrote love letters every day and she responded. After his honorary discharge, they married in November of 1945. The happy couple moved to OKC where he pursued his degree in petroleum geology at OKC University. Orene worked for OPUBCO to supplement his GI Bill. They had 2 children Jack and Lisa in the 1950s. Charles got a job at the Oklahoma Corporation Commission and the Compact Commission. He traveled the country going to the compact commission meetings, often taking mom and me with him. It was on one of those of trips to Charleston, West Virginia that he taught me to dance to his favorite song “Mac the Knife”, he was quite the swing dancer and that brought him much joy! He wrote the Oklahoma stripper well survey for years. He was humbled and very touched when his boss, Christine surprised him at an event banquet that turned out to be a tribute for his 50 years of service to his state oil and gas production in 2000. He continued to consult in the business until he was 83, when he finally retired to help take care of mom who was battling COPD. When she died in 2009, he lived with his daughter Lisa and 3 grandchildren who enjoyed his many stories of love and war. We all pitched in to take good care of him after he fell in September of 2009 and broke his hip.

Charles was the most respectful, honest, hardworking man I know. He built his own cabin at Lake Eufaula and was there most weekends working to keep it nice for entertaining a host of family and friends. He was an industrious, responsible, generous, and loving dad. He was his daughter’s hero. Growing up, his family cars never went to the shop for an oil change, he was a do it himself. He could put on his shorts and t-shirt to go to work in the yard or the garage, and put on a suit to talk and work with governors and even the president of the US. In his words he was a “Jack of all trades” he would add “master of none”, but, I would not. I would say master of all, because his work was excellent! He was handsome, strong, and kind, although he could be a strict father when it came to dealing with our teenage shenanigans. He was always there for me. He led me by example of a great human being, he stood beside me in times of troubles, and he walked behind me to let me fall down and help me get back up again. I loved my dad. I spent a lifetime looking for someone just like him to marry, I finally found someone as close as I could get and my father approved whole heartedly, he finally got to walk me down the aisle at our wedding in June of 2009, and he was one proud dad! He was proud of his granddaughter Karmen, who is pursuing her degree, Keisha who is pursuing hers as well, and his grandson Michael who recently enlisted in the Army National Guard. We will miss him every day!