Merle Don Thorpe

Mr. Merle Don Thorpe, 89, of Bartlesville, died at 4:44 P.M. on Thursday, January 2, 2020 at the St. John Medical Center in Tulsa. Funeral services for Mr. Thorpe will be held at 1 P.M. on Wednesday, January 8, 2020 at the Dewey United Methodist Church with Rev. Jinx Barber and Rev. Tari Carbaugh officiating. Interment will be in the Dewey Cemetery directed by the Stumpff Funeral Home & Crematory. Friends who wish may sign the memorial register at the Stumpff Funeral Home until 5 PM daily as the casket will remain closed at the services. Mr. Thorpe was born at Nowata, Oklahoma on June 16, 1930 the son of Roy Blanton Thorpe and Ruth J. (Ridgeway) Thorpe. He graduated from Dewey High School and then attended Coyne Electrical School in Chicago, Illinois and Tulsa University. He served in the United States Air Force during the Korean War. He was employed with IBM for 16 years and after owning and operating Thorpe’s Green Country Jersey Dairy, he went to work for the City of Bartlesville, where he retired as superintendent of traffic control in 1988. Mr. Thorpe met Margaret Lee Gandy in the second grade at Lake View Country School west of Dewey and they were married at the People’s Church in Bartlesville on July 30, 1955. Mrs. Thorpe had been active as a teacher until her retirement in 1986 after teaching at Dewey for 23 years. Mr. and Mrs. Thorpe spent most of their time traveling between south Texas, Bartlesville and Creede, Colorado where they built a summer home. Mrs. Thorpe preceded him in death on June 15, 2014. Mr. Thorpe was a longtime member of the Dewey United Methodist Church, The Bartlesville American Legion Post # 105 and the Dewey Masonic Lodge # 466, and had been active as a docent at the Dewey Hotel. Survivors include two daughters, Ivy Kim Thorpe of Tulsa and Margo Elliott and husband Jim of Bartlesville, four grandchildren, Matthew Allen Foster, Michael Andrew Foster, Christopher Don Elliott and wife Brianna and Amanda Lee Elliott, one great granddaughter, Eleanor Joy Elliott and his special friend, Beverly Strode of Bartlesville. In addition to his wife, he was preceded in death by his parents and one sister, Muriel Jean Salyers. In lieu of flowers, the family asked that memorial donations be made to the Dewey Hotel, c/o Washington County Historical Society, 801 N. Delaware, Dewey, Oklahoma, 74029 and the Dewey United Methodist Church, 618 N. Delaware, Dewey, Oklahoma, 74029.

Merle Don Thorpe

June 16, 1930 - January 2, 2020