John Denning Frizzell, Jr.

John Denning Frizzell, Jr. was born on 3/4/39 in Oklahoma City to Mildred Virginia Armor and John D Frizzell, Sr. He passed away on 7/25/18 at home of natural causes. John (Big John, John D, Johnny or "Paw Paw" as he was affectionately known to friends and family) grew up and lived in Oklahoma City his entire life. As with many kids of his generation, John's childhood was complicated by a case of Polio at age 7, but he was insistent that he would not be defined by it. Graduating from Classen High School, John went on to attend OCU, during which time he met his future wife Colene Jenkins. John and Colene were married in 1959 and had two children, William Denning "Denny" Frizzell and De'Lene Elizabeth Frizzell Moore. John's passions, interests and curiosity led him to many personal and professional pursuits, including (but certainly not limited to): a career as a master stagecoach builder; performance car parts entrepreneur founding Kool Fuel Racing Products; a dedicated 25 yr member of the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary, a rootin tootin cowboy in the Frontier City wild west stunt show; a die-hard NRA and Oklahoma City Gun Club member; a Boy Scout enthusiast serving as both scout leader when his son was young and a gun safety instructor in his later years; a Mudlucker to the end (surviving sinking a boat in Lake Tenkiller); an aspiring tomato farmer; owner of a Pirelli tire store, Allied Industries plating shop owner, a member of the Oklahoma City Men's Breakfast Club, Westerners Indian Territory Posse and the OKC Corvette Racing Club. His adventures through life were many, including the restoration of a Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach & during its 100th Anniversary in 1958 he and his family engaged in a 4 week journey to retrace the Overland Mail Express Trail (the first transcontinental mail service). Traveling with a 4-Horse hitch with both Sr. and Jr. at the whip, often with the coach full of celebrities, they made 24 mail drops starting in Tipton, MO & culminating with driving the team down San Francisco's famed Market Street. He was also involved with: the restoration of the Colorado Cumbres and Toltec Railroad; designing and creating several horse drawn vehicles for the Kentucky Horse Park; restoring a stagecoach at the Hubbard Museum of the American West in Ruidoso, NM; a newspaper preservationist for the Oklahoma Historical Society; English teacher to the local Vietnamese community; model airplane and train enthusiast; gardener; deep sea fisherman; boating enthusiast; and a persistent tinkerer in his garage shop. Although the list may be long, he will be most remembered in our hearts as loving husband, father, grandfather and friend. John is preceded in death by his parents and sister Minette Marion Frizzell, and survived by his wife Colene and family.