Dotzour, G. Gordon, 83, prominent realtor of West Wichita and owner of Dotzour Realtors, died Thursday, October 18, 2007.
Service, 1:00 P.M., Monday, October 22, First Presbyterian Church. Graveside service will follow at 4:00 P.M., Resthaven Cemetery. Viewing, 4:00-9:00 P.M., Saturday, October 20 and 1:00-9:00 P.M., Sunday, October 21, Downing & Lahey Mortuary West.
Gordon Dotzour was born on January 28, 1924 to Grover and Jennie Dotzour. He grew up in Riverside and attended North High School where his father, Grover, was the first principal.
Gordon played on the Redskin 2-man and 4-man State Championship golf team in 1940. Gordon attended Wichita State for a semester where he played clarinet with the Jazz Band. He enlisted in the Army Air Force. After his discharge he finished his BA degree at Stanford and played on the Stanford golf team which won the National Championship that year.
He returned to Kansas and took a job at the bank in Macksville where he met Betty Jo Cotton. They were married in 1947 after a short courtship.
Gordon took a job with Sheaffer Pen Co and then returned to his love of golf as an Assistant Pro at McDonald Park Golf Course working with Tex Consolver and Dean Adkisson. During those years, Gordon, Tex and another Wichita pro, Gene O’Brien, played on the Tourof the PGA.
Gordon then went into the real estate business with Luis and Tony Casado.
Under their tutelage he learned the Real Estate business and opened his own business, Dotzour Realtors, with an office on West Douglas. He later built his offices at 9100 W. Central. While in the Real Estate business Gordon promoted West Wichita. He laid the groundwork for the first bank in West Wichita, the National Bank of Wichita and was one of the first directors. He published The Westerner, a weekly area newspaper, and was on the Wichita Park Board when Pawnee Prairie Golf Course was built. After many years of promoting the area he was often referred to as the “Mayor” of West Wichita.
Gordon and his son, Mark, developed the Gleneagles Addition in west Wichita. Gordon retired in 1982 from business after health problems and returned to playing golf at Rolling Hills and enjoying life with his wife, son and grandchildren.
Survivors, wife, Betty Jo; son and daughter-in-law, Mark and LuAnn of College Station, TX; grandchildren and their spouses, Bryan and Althea Dotzour, Melanie and Ben Davis; great-grandson, Andrew Dotzour.
Memorials established with First Presbyterian Church, 525 N. Broadway, Wichita, KS 67214 and Harry Hynes Memorial Hospice, 313 S. Market, Wichita, KS 67202. Tributes may be sent to the family via www.dlwichita.com.
Published in the Wichita Eagle from 10/20/2007 – 10/22/2007.