John Gourley

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John Douglas Gourley, of Dallas, Texas, passed away on January 26, 2025, after a long and courageous battle with Parkinson’s Disease.

John was born on October 19, 1938, on a farm near Annada (Pike County) to Sheridan and Margaret Gourley. He grew up on a farm near Lake City, Iowa.

After graduating from Lake City High School in 1956, John entered Drake University, where he was a member of Phi Delta Theta. He graduated in 1960. While at Drake he married Mary Salmon, and they had two daughters, Margaret and Pamela.

John then enrolled in law school at Saint Louis University, while also working for the Hormel Company as a salesman. He impressed the Hormel executives so much that after receiving his law degree in 1968, he joined the Hormel general counsel’s office in Austin, Minn.

In 1973, a chance encounter on an airplane led him to become general counsel and executive of the Lehndorff USA Companies in Chicago. This was the beginning of a long, illustrious career in real estate and investments.

John moved with Lehndorff to Dallas in 1978 and eventually became the President of L & B Real Estate Counsel. He formed his own investment company, Madison Realty Investors, in the early 1980s. John continued to make investments the rest of his life, including one just two weeks before he passed.

John was a close friend to many and enjoyed by all that knew him. He was fiercely intelligent, witty and very, very funny. He often acted as a contrarian with his friends, just to stir things up. Many of his liberal friends thought John was a right-winger, and many of his conservative friends thought he was a bleeding-heart liberal. He loved it.

John seemed to have more time at his disposal than the rest of us. He had time to visit with a friend. Time to travel, play golf, hunt, fish and to read lots and lots of non-fiction books. And especially time for his grandchildren, whom he adored. Games, concerts, events – he was always there.

John was a member of the Dallas Country Club. He was a former member of the Alotian Club and Preston Trail Golf Club – one of his favorite places in the world.

John is survived by his long-time companion, Joan Germany; his wife, Mary; daughters Margaret Gourley and Pamela (Robert) Teeter; his grandchildren, Chloe Teeter (fiancé Taylor Hinojosa), John Teeter (wife Lindsay Barlow), Julia Teeter, and Mary Claire Teeter.

John is preceded in death by his father, Sheridan Gourley, his mother, Margaret Kruse, and his sister and her husband, Peggy and Vincent Stagliano.

John’s mother was a Miller. His uncles were Franklin, Flemon and Burt Miller and aunts were Helen Myers and Anna Gourley.

The funeral service is at 1 p.m. on Feb. 5 in the sanctuary of Highland Park United Methodist Church. Interment will follow in Montgomery City,  next to his parents.

Memorial contributions in his honor may be made to either the Parkinson’s Voice Project or to the adult special needs ministry at HPUMC, the Belong disAbility Ministry.


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