David Gaston Gregory

May 12, 1925 – June 27, 2017
BOWIE — David Gaston Gregory, 92, passed away June 27, 2017 in Bowie, TX.
A memorial service will be at 11 a.m. June 30 at the Montague County Cowboy Church in Montague.
David was born May 12,1925 in Bowie to Earl and Ferba (Hogeland) Gregory. He graduated from Bowie High School in May of 1942. David joined and served his country in the United States Navy in 1943 for 3 ½ years.
He married Clara Nell East from Miami, OK on May 4, 1946. David was recalled to active duty for the Navy in January of 1951 during the Korean War and he served 18 months. He was Boy Scout Master of the troop sponsored by the First Baptist Church of Bowie for 3 ½ years. David was the Montague County Civil Defense Director during the Cuban Crisis. He retired from the United States Postal Service in 1980 after 35 years of federal service.
David was secretary/treasurer of Texas Pony of America Club from 1963-1969 and inspector for the National Pony of America from 1964 to 1969. He was a charter member of the Jim Bowie Riding Club and served in 1967 as first director of Jim Bowie Days.
From 1967 to 1983 he was a partner in the Botex Trailer company manufacturing gooseneck trailers. He ranched from 1970 until 2002 raising, training and showing quarter horses and cattle.
In the mid 1990s he helped paint a mural for the Bowie Main Street Project that was displayed on the old Wilson Drug Store building. He also painted an attack on a Butterfield Stage Coach by Indians which was displayed on the north wall of the old Griffin Drug Store that is across from Legend Bank. David also made the drawings for the metal cutouts of the Trail Drive scene in the park at the junction of US 81 and business 287 and painted the Longhorn Cattle and trail drivers on horses.
After retiring in 2002 from ranching, he sold his ranch and moved to Newport where he lived and kept a couple horses to train and ride. David wrote and published two books. One is a collection of humorous stories about good horses, bad horses, mad cows and irate neighbors that was titled “Horsefeathers.” The second book is titled “Mistletoe Jones” and is a novel about a 15 year old boy born in 1850 just north of Bowie and about his struggle into manhood and subsequent rescue of his girlfriend from Indians.
From 1994 to 2008 he wrote a humor column for small town newspapers which was also called “Horsefeathers.” In 1995, he was awarded first place honors for the best humor article of the year in Texas in weekly newspapers by the Texas Newspaper Publishers Association.
In 2003, he started taking guitar lessons and sang and played at jam sessions. He was a member of the Bowie Lodge AF&AM 578 for more than 50 years. David was on the board of directors with the Dairy Queen Think Tank where they try to solve world problems. Up until recently he went dancing three nights a week in Bowie, Springtown and Wichita Falls. David lived life to the fullest.
He is preceded in death by his parents, Earl and Ferba Gregory; wife, Clara Gregory; daughter, Judy Marie Gregory; brother, Kenneth Gregory and sister, Carolyn Sue Gregory.
David is survived by his children, Vicki Riley and husband Chuck, Bowie, Mike Gregory and Mary Paul, Edmond, OK, and Terri Vinson and husband David, Benbrook; grandchildren, Jody Oliver, T.J. Thompson and Casey Gallia, all of Bowie, Clay Gregory, Edmond, OK, Devin Badley, Keller, Kayla Watts, Benbrook and Callie Jones, Bowie; 14 great grandchildren; brother, Bob Gregory, Everman; numerous nieces and nephews; and special friend, Crystie Riley, Bowie.
Arrangements have been entrusted to The White Family Funeral Home of Bowie.
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