Dan Howell Procter, 94, died November 13, 2025, at the Advent Health Porter Hospice in Centennial, CO. A funeral service for Dan will be held at 1:00 p.m. on Monday, November 24, 2025, in the Ferguson Funeral Home Chapel, located in Chickasha, OK, with burial beside his wife, Genelle Procter, at Fairlawn Cemetery in Chickasha. Arrangements in Denver are under the care of Ellis Funeral and Memorial Care.

Dan found something to celebrate every day (especially when they included oysters and pecan pie) and retained his sense of humor and all his mental faculties. With the loving care and support of his daughter, Linda, and his devoted family and friends, he was able to live independently to the end of his life (avoiding the nursing home stay he dreaded). He remained active until three days before his death and passed his final days comfortably with his family and friends whispering goodbyes into his ear.

Dan was born October 3, 1931, in Ada, OK, where he and his brother, Richard Procter, raised chickens, goats, and excelled in taking apart household appliances and putting them back together. Usually. The family moved to Chickasha when he was in junior high school. There he met his future wife, Genelle Lanier. (They later determined they had been classmates briefly in elementary school.)

In Chickasha, Dan lived on the campus of the Oklahoma College for Women, where his father was president. He loved exploring the countryside around Grady County and enjoyed frog gigging in the Washita River there. Dan loved building things. In high school he got a summer job with the construction crew building the student union building at OCW. He was invited to travel with the crew to its next project, a proposal his parents nixed.

He spent months repairing a 1930s Ford coupe, converting the trunk into a rumble seat, and painted “Li’l Stinker” on the back. He attended three semesters at the University of Oklahoma until the Korean War changed his plans at age 19. Enlisting in the U.S. Airforce with two of his friends, he soon found himself not in Korea, but in Moulins, Allier in central France with the 73rd Vehicle Repair Depot from Tinker Field near Oklahoma City. Because of his typing skill and a semester of ROTC Dan was promoted to corporal as secretary to the commanding officer. In his free time, he rebuilt a small motor bike, and took trips to Switzerland, Germany, and Paris.

Upon returning to civilian life, he and Genelle were married in 1952. Their son, Dan L. Procter was born in 1953, Linda was born in 1957. After graduating from OU, the family moved to Midland, TX, where Dan was a geologist for Amerada Oil Company. Dan built a wood fishing boat in the garage (despite living 100 miles from the nearest lake). The family moved first to Hobbs, NM, then to Tulsa, OK, later to Oklahoma City, and finally to Denver, CO in 1977

After retiring from Mobil Oil Company in 1988, Dan and Genelle set out to explore the United States in a Winnebago. Between RV trips, they traveled to New Zealand, Australia, Hawaii, and nearly every place between Canada and the Caribbean islands

Dan lost Genelle, his wife of 57 years, in 2010. He is survived by his two children, son Dan L. Procter and his wife Stephanie Modlin, and daughter Linda Burns and her husband Reed Burns, and two grandchildren, Haley Burns, and Taylor Burns, and many more family members and loving friends.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to the AdventHealth Hospice Care Porter Foundation, PO Box 931215, Atlanta, GA 31193-1215 or online rmahf.org/hospice.