Dr. David C. Townsend

OBITUARY: DAVID C. TOWNSEND David Caldow Townsend, 88, died March 23, 2016, at home in the Elkins Lake community of Huntsville, Texas, where he has lived for over 30 years. He was born April 5, 1927 in Atlantic, Iowa to Jessie Caldow (1897-1999) and Bruce Townsend (1897-1997). He graduated from Clinton (Iowa) High School in 1944 and immediately enlisted in the U.S. Navy for service during the last year of World War II. This duty involved participation in the Navy’s ROTC programs at Ohio Wesleyan University and the University of Virginia. After his military discharge in 1946, he earned three collegiate degrees: B.A. in economics from Cornell College (Mt. Vernon, Iowa) in 1948; M.A. in economics from the University of Michigan in 1949; and Ph.D. in economics from Louisiana State University in 1953. His fifty years of collegiate teaching began with three years as an instructor at LSU, where he met his wife, Dorothy Louise Trichel. He spent two years as assistant professor at the University of Houston and three and one-half years as economics department head at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. Dr. Townsend was an associate professor of finance at The University of Texas in Austin for four and a half years. He was recognized there for starting the Honors Business Program in the College of Business. From 1963 through 1982, he served as professor and Dean of the College of Business at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana. Dean Townsend was awarded the honorary title of dean emeritus in 1983, upon his retirement from Northwestern. He finished his academic teaching career by spending the next eighteen years as professor of economics and international business at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. Within this half century academic career were two annual sabbaticals. During John Kennedy’s short presidency, Dr. Townsend spent a year in Washington D.C. as a visiting economist with the Federal Reserve Board of Governors (1961-62). Then, in 1978-79, a second sabbatical year involved teaching graduate courses in economics on U.S. Air Force bases in Germany, England and Spain. Civic service assignments included years in the mid-1960s with the Rotary Club of Natchitoches, La. as president, vice president, program chairman, and as secretary-treasurer. He served two three-year terms in the mid-1970s as an elected member of the Board of Trustees of the Teachers Retirement System of Louisiana. And after teaching his last classes at Sam Houston State University in 2002, Townsend served five years as a volunteer income tax preparer for the Huntsville chapter of AARP. David’s interests were diverse. He was an avid golfer and tennis player, a great dancer, enjoyed bridge and listening to classical music, traveled extensively, and loved socializing with friends. He was a long-time patron of symphony and opera. And he was especially pleased to have finally gained 4 grandsons late in life, who gave him great joy. After retirement, Dr. Townsend continued to read the Wall Street Journal daily and stayed current with the day’s economic, political and financial news and events. He was an excellent correspondent throughout his life, and since retiring from SHSU, he had a wide circulation of devotees to his “snail mail blogs”, where he wrote about financial and economic topics and where he expounded on answers to the many questions his friends had for him, while sipping a cold one after a round of golf. In addition to his parents, Dr. Townsend is predeceased by his sister Margaret Townsend Tesch, and his son David Bruce (1954-1956). He is survived by his wife of almost 65 years, Dorothy Trichel, who he married on June 4, 1951, two days after her graduation from LSU. He is also survived by three children—Teresa Wright of Memphis (Peter), Mary Ross of Houston (Mike), and James Townsend of Bend, Oregon (Julie)—and four grandchildren—Brian, Benjamin and Christopher Ross, and Oliver Townsend, who all knew him affectionately as “Papa”. The family would especially like to thank David’s loving caregivers—Marie Williams, Janice Waldrip and Ada Larry, as well as his wonderful neighbors and friends. Visitation is scheduled for Wednesday, 3/30/16 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Sam Houston Memorial Funeral Home, and a funeral service is scheduled for Thursday, 3/31/16 at 11:00 a.m. at St. Thomas Catholic Church in Huntsville. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials may be sent to St. Thomas Catholic Church, 1323 16th Street, Huntsville, TX 77340, or a charity of your choice. Full obituary may be viewed and memorial condolences made to the family at www.shmfh.com.

Dr. David C. Townsend

April 5, 1927 - March 23, 2016