July 14, 1954
Elmer Dowd Dies;
Funeral Thursday

Elmer L. Dowd, 68-year-old native son who could accurately recall most of the important dates in Denison development of this town, died here Tuesday afternoon after an illness of several months.
Funeral has been set for 9 a.m. Thursday at the Bratcher-Moore Chapel with Father H. Felderhoff, pastor of St. Patrick's Catholic Church, officiating. Burial will be at Fairview.
Dowd's photographic memory of events he witnessed was legendary. However, he admitted his memory of "printed dates" was quite average.
He recalled vividly the May 15. 1896 cyclone which hit Sherman and the April 1, 1907 train wreck that killed six local trainmen.
Dowd was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Dowd and was born here July 2, 1886. He was educated at St. Xavier's Academy and married here in 1914 to Miss Bessie McPhail.
He worked for the Katy Railroad for 23 years as a coppersmith in the roundhouse, but in 1922 retired to enter the insurance business. He has been district manager of Mutual of Omaha for the past quarter of a century.
Dowd always credited his mother for his remarkable memory, saying, "she never forgot a thing."  His father was killed in a train crash at Summit Switch, Okla., Sept. 4, 1890.
Survivors include his widow; two daughters, Mrs. Marie D. Lindsey of Wichita, Kans., and Mrs. D. E. Cockrell of Spokane, Wash.; three brothers, Harry and Boone Dowd of Denison and Clyde Dowd of New York City, and three grandchildren.