Dr. Thomas E. Messler , class of 1956, died Aug. 21,
2009, in Tulsa, Okla.
Messler, 86, was born in Little Rock, Ark. He served as a second lieutenant with the 8th Air Force in England for three and one half years during World War II. He was an Honor Roll Member of the American Veterinary Medical Association for 54 years. He earned three patents for his inventions. He was a member of the Oil Capital Rod and Gun Club, the NRA, the Oklahoma Rifle Association, the American Legion and the Windycrest Sailing Club. He enjoyed rifle shooting and sailing his MC Scow on Keystone Lake and traveling. His wife, Ruth, a daughter, a grandson, a granddaughter and a sister survive Messler.
(Source: Tulsa World)
William “Doc” Leatherwood, class of 1957, died
May 10, 2010.
Leatherwood, 77, of Salisbury, Mo., was born in Paint Rock, Texas, and graduated from high school in Eden, Texas, where he participated in track, baseball, football, tennis and Future Farmers of America. He was a member of the state’s high school football championship team and was named to the all-district football team. He was also the 1950 state tennis champion. While earning his bachelor’s degree at OSU, he met and married his wife, Bette. After graduating with his DVM degree, he bought a practice in Salisbury, Mo., and expanded it into one of the largest large-animal hospitals in the state.
Leatherwood also installed the first Surge Milking Machine in the area at Paul Biere’s dairy farm and introduced bovine artificial insemination technology to area cattle owners. Throughout his career, he was active in veterinary organizations including the American, Missouri, Central, North Central and Intermountain Veterinary Medical Associations, the Bovine and the Porcine Practitioners Associations and the Livestock Feeders Association. He helped found the American Society of Agriculture Consultants, serving as secretary/treasurer from 1964-67 and as executive director in 1975. He served on the MVMA’s legislative, swine disease and beef disease committees. He was a charter member of the MVMA’s Academy of Veterinary Medicine and a member of Missouri’s veterinary medicine board. In 2007, he received his 50-year pin from the MVMA. Leatherwood also found time to serve the First United Methodist Church, the Salisbury Kiwanis Club and the Salisbury Boy Scout Troop Committee. He chaired the annual Salisbury Horse Show, the Men’s Division of the Salisbury Centennial and the Centennial Farms committee for the Chariton County Historical Society. He was a 32nd degree Mason and a member of the Salisbury Masonic Lodge, Huntsville Masonic Lodge, Scottish Rite Temple, Little Dixie Shrine Club (past president) and the Ararat Shrine Temple in Kansas City, where he served as the District VI Ambassador and a Provost Marshall.
He was passionate about shooting sports and gun collecting. He annually attended the Winchester Gun Show and Buffalo Bill Days in Cody, Wyo. In 1963, the Chariton County Sheriff appointed Leatherwood deputy. In 1997, he assumed the duties of acting sheriff, and upon the sheriff’s death, served as sheriff until a new one was elected. After the election, he was re-appointed deputy and served in that capacity until his death. He also served as the Chariton County coroner for 20 years from 1981-2001. Leatherwood also loved all sports, especially football. He and a group of local men brought organized football to the Salisbury school system. He helped organize the Salisbury Quarterback Club and served as its first president. In 2002, the Salisbury school honored him for being the high school football team’s No. 1 fan for 30 years. In 2004, the school’s athletic department honored him for 33 years of support to the football teams. He was also named special friend to the 4-H, honorary chapter farmer and honorary state farmer for his support of 4-H and FFA. His wife, Bette, three sons, a daughter, 10 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren survive Leatherwood. (Source: Summerville Funeral Home)
Dr. Gus Thornton, class of 1957, died Jan. 24, 2010, at his
home in Medfield, Mass., after a long illness.
Thornton, 77, grew up on a farm outside Bartlesville, Okla. After graduating from OSU, he left for Boston, where he accepted an internship at the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ Angell Memorial Animal Hospital. (The MSPCA is the second oldest humane society in the U.S.). In 1966, he became chief of staff and held that position for 23 years. While he was at Angell, Thornton is credited with quadrupling its veterinary staff, instituting a residency program and building the country’s first veterinary intensive care unit. When he stepped down as chief of staff in 1989, he assumed the presidency of the MSPCA-Angell. Thornton went on to advance the nonprofit’s many causes including spay/neuter campaigns, trapping and animal abuse legislation and stronger pet shop regulations. During his tenure, he also increased the MSPCA’s participation in international animal protection work. The MSPCA provided funding and supplies to build sanctuaries for rescued dancing bears in Pakistan, Turkey and India; to equip anti-poaching patrols protecting Siberian tigers; to deliver orthopedic surgical equipment to a wildlife rehabilitation center in Colombia; and to rescue wild and domestic animals caught in earthquakes, oil spills, fires, floods, volcanic eruptions and war zones. CONTINUES
2010 Oklahoma State University
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