Dickey Gene Cawley

March 15, 2008 11:57 pm

— Dickey Gene Cawley died Sunday, March 9, 2008 at his home in Bartlesville.
He was born in Stillwater on March 27, 1929 to Jack Cawley and Valla Leigh Dacus. He attended Eureka schools. He served in the U.S. Air Force from 1947 to 1949. He was stationed in Guam where he was a teletype operator. On Aug. 2, 1955 he married Anita Jo King in Stillwater. They had three children, Shelly, Cheryl and Patti.
Dick joined the Oklahoma Highway Patrol in 1958. He was stationed in Holdenville, Lawton and Pawnee. He retired from the patrol in 1964. Dick owned a roofing company most of his life. He moved the family to New Orleans in 1965 after Hurricane Betsy, where he was working as an insurance adjuster. The family returned to Pawnee in 1965. Dick was a member of the Pawnee Christian Church where he was a deacon and Sunday school teacher. He was also a Boy Scout Troop leader. The family later moved to Stillwater when he accepted a position as an OSU campus police officer for two years.
Dick moved to Bartlesville to take care of his mother in 1982. He met Carolyn Brotherton on Oct. 13, 1985 his companion until death. Carolyn has two sons, Devon Brotherton of Tahlequah and Todd Brotherton of Bartlesville.
Dick is survived by his daughters Shelly LaFave and her husband Garry of Cashion, Cheryl Leigh Cawley of Yukon, Patti Selby and her husband George of Fort Worth Texas, Vickie Wilson and her husband Gerald of Monroe, N.C.; grandsons, Jesse Lafave of Nashville, Clint Barton of Temple, Texas, Nathan Hufford of Nashville; granddaughters Jenna LaFave Henry of Oklahoma City, Abbey Hufford of Nashville, and Jordan Lafave of Cashion; great-grandchild Carter Alan Henry of Oklahoma City; and niece Bonnie Kay Cawley of Bartlesville.
In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by two brothers, Jack and Pat, and one grandson who was very close to his heart, Chad Ryan Barton.
Memorial services will be held at Sunnybrook Christian Church in Stillwater at 2 p.m. on March 25. Family and friends are invited to attend lunch at 12:30 p.m.
Friends and family are encouraged to send donations to the American Cancer Society in memory of Chad Ryan Barton.