[M] #37186 Gail Arthur Owen ( Minnie Margaret "Margaret" Mechling • Arthur Waldo Mechling • Alfred Melancthon Mechling • Jacob D. Mechling • John Peter Mechling • Jacob Mechling • John Theobald "Dewalt" Mechling◊ • Diebold "Theobald" Mechling◊ • Diebold Mechling◊ • Martin Mechling◊ )

Gail was born 20 Nov 1937. He died 14 Dec 2003 in Missoula, Montana.

Gail grew up in Missoula, graduating from high school there in 1956. He earned a B.S. in engineering in 1960, and after employment with the Navy in the Pacific, he pursued graduate studies in history before returning to Montana in 1966.

Thereafter, Gail worked in the family building business and also did historical research and writing. His study of Western Civilization, "The Betterment of Man," was published in 1973, and he placed a number of historical articles in scholarly journals.

In the mid-1970s, Gail helped lead a quest for cleaner air in Missoula and for more efficient energy use statewide - culminating in construction of a prototype home in Hamilton for the state's alternative energy program.

He moved there in 1976 and began a major study of Sidney Reilly, a renowned figure of modern espionage. However, in 1988, while caring for his terminally ill father, Gail ceased further research and never finalized or published the Reilly study. Later, he passed on his manuscript and notes to younger scholars in the field.

Stricken by colon cancer in 1993, Gail eventually made a successful recovery and lived out the remainder of his life at home on Bowman Hill, caring for his mother until her death in 1999 and alone thereafter. He never married or had children.

Dorothy Hallarn Mercy, Mechlin Mechling Macklin - Descendants of Theobald Mechling, 1728-1998, Volume I-Dewalt Mechling, (Butler, PA: Mechling Associates, 1998). Ref. as [Mercy I-98].

Gail Arthur Owen obituary, Missoulian 21 Dec 2003 (http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2003/12/21/obits/obits1.txt).

Line Generation: 11

Relationship: Sixth Cousins through John Theobald "Dewalt" Mechling◊