The Oklahoma Bar Journal March 2024

I n M emoriam

R onald Dean Cates of Owasso died Jan. 8. He was born Aug. 25, 1955. He received his J.D. from the TU College of Law in 1980. M ichael R. Collins of Ponca City died Jan. 16. He was born Aug. 3, 1946, in Cherokee. He graduated from Northwestern Oklahoma State University, where he played football. He received his J.D. from the OU College of Law in 1972. Mr. Collins served as the first assistant district attorney for Kay and Noble counties for more than 10 years, and he was honored with the Assistant District Attorney of the Year Award by the Oklahoma District Attorneys Association. In 1984, he opened a private practice in Ponca City, where he practiced for more than 35 years. He also formed the Bankruptcy Law Center before his semi-retirement in 2019 and continued to practice law until his death. Mr. Collins served as past president of the Kay County Bar Association, two rotary clubs and the Cimarron Council of the Boy Scouts of America, of which he was also vice president of the Executive Committee. He served on numerous committees in the state and local bar associations, Leadership Oklahoma, Leadership Methodist Church, among others. He received national recognition as a recipient of the Silver Beaver Award, along with other recogni tions over the years of his service to the Boy Scouts. Memorial contribu tions may be made to the Northern Oklahoma Humane Society. Ponca City and the Board of Trustees at St. Paul’s United

R ichard Casey Cooper of Tulsa died Nov. 12. He was born Jan. 20, 1942. He graduated from TU with a bachelor’s degree in marketing in 1964 and received his J.D. from the TU College of Law in 1967. He was a recipient of the Mervin Bovaird Foundation Scholarship and served as an editor of the Tulsa Law Review during his final year of school. Mr. Cooper joined the U.S. Navy. In July 1967, he was the first Oklahoma law graduate accepted into the Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps. In 1971, he returned to civilian life and worked as an attorney in Denver. A year later, he went to work for Boesche, McDermott & Eskridge, the Tulsa law firm where he had been a law school intern, as an associate, partner and finally managing partner until 2001. Mr. Cooper then founded the Cooper, McKinney & Woosley Law Firm and later joined Hall Estill in 2010. He became a share holder at GableGotwals in 2015, where he continued his practice until November 2023. He practiced complex litigation, environmental law, oil and gas, corporate law and higher education law. Throughout his life, he was involved in his community. He served on the board of the Mervin Bovaird Foundation, of which he was elected president in 1995. He also served on the Board of Trustees for TU and the TU College of Law and the boards of the Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa Opera, Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa Arts Management Consortium, Tulsa Philharmonic and Bacone College. Memorial contributions may be made to the Austin Gnostic Society or the TU College of Law.

V icki Lawrence MacDougall of Oklahoma City died Jan. 21. She was born Aug. 21, 1952, in Oklahoma City. She received her J.D. from the OCU School of Law in 1976, graduating top of her class. Ms. MacDougall worked as a clerk for a local judge until she was offered a job as a professor at the OCU School of Law. Her career at the school lasted until her death. S usan J. Manchester of Oklahoma City died Jan. 22. She was born July 15, 1950, in Oklahoma City. She graduated from OSU with a degree in art in 1972. After years of working as an accomplished artist, she received her J.D. from the OU College of Law in 1980. Ms. Manchester began her legal career at the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office, where she served as chief of the Appellate Crime Division. She eventually became a Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee for the Western District of Oklahoma for the remaining 30 years of her career. Memorial contributions may be made to the Oklahoma Humane Society. F loyd Miller Jr. of Madill died Jan. 16. He was born Sept. 10, 1925, in El Dorado, Arkansas. After graduating high school, Mr. Miller joined the U.S. Navy and served three years as a Seabee in World War II. He attended Murray State College and OSU, where he com pleted his pre-law undergraduate studies. He received his LL.B. from the OU College of Law in 1950. Mr. Miller served as the county attorney for Love County until 1955 when he moved to Madill to practice law as a solo practitioner until his retirement in 2020. He was a member of the ABA and

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THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL