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Donald Mack Abrams

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Donald Mack Abrams of Yukon, Oklahoma, passed away on January 10, 2023. Don was born on October 28, 1941, in Shawnee, Oklahoma, and raised in Purcell, Oklahoma. His father, Otis M. Abrams was a railroad engineer, and his mother, Lerlie was a homemaker. Don attended Purcell Public Schools where he was an outstanding student and active in the band. Graduating in 1959, he was selected as a member of the 1959 Oklahoma All-State Band and was president of his senior class. He graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a degree in accounting.

He married his high school sweetheart, Norma Gail Watson, in 1963 and they moved to Bartlesville where he worked for Phillips Oil Company until he went into the Army. Norma had been a German language major in college and they were delighted to be assigned to Germany where they spent the next 18 months living in the German community and making German friends.

In 1969, with six months remaining in his active military service, he was transferred to Vietnam. With his accounting background, he was assigned to Disbursement and one of his responsibilities was payment of the soldiers. He would fly on a helicopter to the “bush” where they would land in a clearing and deliver payment to the soldiers, always hoping to avoid ambush.

Following his military service, Don worked in finance in the oil business for most of his career. Don and Norma enjoyed their time in the 1970s when he worked for Apco Argentina, Inc., and lived in Buenos Aires. They then relocated to Spring, Texas, where their daughters, Lara and Erica, were born. Don was an expert marksman and was the Texas state champion in vintage rifle competition. He worked for a time in oil development in Turkmenistan in the 1990s. Later in his career, he worked in insurance for oil exploration and drilling, often working and living in Mexico.

Don was preceded in death by his parents; two sisters, Anita Ballard and Mary Carolyn Murrell and former wife, Norma.

He is survived by his daughters, Lara Gwinn of Spring, Texas, and Erica Perryman and her husband, Cole, of Jenks, Oklahoma; his grandsons, Mitchell Gwinn and Barrett Perryman; his brothers, Herbert of Mission Viejo, California, and Gary and his wife, Jane, of Ann Arbor, Michigan, and nieces, nephews and friends.

A private service will be held by the family.