Long time Woodland Heights resident Doug Dreher passed away after a brief illness on Wednesday, September 9, 2020. Douglas Vernon Dreher was born to Vernon and Marjorie (nee Richmond) Dreher, of West Lafayette, Ohio on March 22, 1952. Growing up on a farm led Doug naturally to his lifelong love of the outdoors – and his avocation of collecting arrowheads, which in turn led him to his education, and eventually, his profession as a geologist and oilfield scout. Doug had many fond memories of his family's farm where he grew up and longed to return. He mentioned it often to his many Houston friends and family members. Doug attended elementary school and high school in West Lafayette, Ohio, where he graduated from Ridgewood High School in 1970.

After graduating from high school, he enrolled at Capital University, one of Ohio's great private universities, in Columbus, where he continued his passion for exploring the outdoors by majoring in geology, and by joining the men's soccer team, the Capital Crusaders. Summers at Capital were devoted to field trips and the further study of rocks with one of his favorite professors, Dr. Rocky Bond, often staying at Dr. Bond's home in Hocking Hills. Doug received his BS in geology in 1974, and after graduation embarked on a year-long post college trip with three of his friends, and not just any year-long post college trip, either. Doug's post college trip involved a cross country train trip to Vancouver, B.C., and a cross country return trip of some 3,300 miles – on his bicycle, a feat chronicled by more than one newspaper account during his long trip, and on his eventual return home. That was Doug.

After his long trip, Doug then made his way to Houston where, after a brief stint stocking groceries, he would join Amoco in 1975 in their exploration department, initially in the rock lab for several years, where he perfected his passion for collecting and cataloging rocks to an art form, then in the field as an oilfield scout, where his ability to connect with people of all walks of life made him so indispensable and so loved by his colleagues. In so many ways, Amoco was truly the perfect home for Doug, and he was certainly perfect for Amoco. As a scout, he traveled literally all over the country, to virtually all of Amoco's regional offices, where he always made more friends, and he also invariably found some time to explore for more things to collect during his trips. He remained at Amoco for 23 years, and had the company not been acquired by BP, would have likely still been there until today. Doug accepted early retirement from Amoco after the BP acquisition was completed in 1999. He cared deeply about his colleagues, and they cared deeply about him. And so on the day many hundreds of his colleagues were escorted out of the Amoco building after being let go, Doug sat in the lobby and played his version of 'The Ballad of Oileans' on his guitar (with his own lyrics) to the tune of Johnny Horton's 'Battle of New Orleans', and as much as anything, that was quintessentially Doug.

In 2001, having embarked on his new career as a barber, Doug purchased the iconic Houston barbershop, Don's, from its namesake and owner, Don Willis, renaming it Don and Doug's.

Don's was already a Houston icon when Doug acquired it in 2001. Its appearance in the movie 'Rushmore' had cemented its place in Houston lore, but it had been a barber shop in its current location in the Heights since 1929. Doug's remarkable ability to connect with people merely took it to the next level. For over 2 decades, the barber shop has been a familiar backdrop in local television advertisements, and movie and TV celebrities can routinely be spotted in the

shop just getting a haircut. Doug loved to combine his collecting with his new business and would offer customers of all ages a rare foreign coin from the year of their birth, or a mint condition issue of Life magazine from the week they were born. If a customer became ill, Doug would offer free house calls. So, requests for house calls are not uncommon, one recent request coming from Reliant Stadium, for singer Adam Levine no less. A couple of years ago, the shop hosted the wedding of a young couple who loved 'Rushmore' so much they wanted to be married in Dan and Doug's Barber Shop. The list is virtually endless, and these are just a few illustrative examples of what all of Doug's friends and family already know - that he was extremely intelligent, very well read, but also one of the kindest, most thoughtful, caring people anyone could ever know. Additionally, he possessed a boundless sense of generosity, and whether it was his time, money, or talent that were required, was not important. People were important, and whether he was talking to the chairman of Amoco, or to a homeless person on the street, he had a way of making that person know they were important to him. That was Doug, too.

Doug was also an expert and prolific collector of – as one family member dryly remarked, basically everything. His family's farm is located in a region of central Ohio known for its Native American history, and at a very young age, Doug began exploring a former Native American settlement on the farm. This discovery was the genesis of his lifelong passion for collecting arrowheads, artifacts, coins, and significantly his very large collection of McCoy pottery, which he continued to add to until very recently. He had been collecting for a few years, and one day when he was about 12, his mother confronted him at the back door as he was bringing home yet another bag full of rocks. 'Doug', she said, 'you can't bring any more rocks into your room. Any more rocks and we're afraid the kitchen ceiling is going to collapse.' Undeterred, he took over any outside space he could find, including the barn. That was certainly Doug.

Having grown up on a farm, Doug was an avid outdoorsman, and loved nothing more than being at the beach in Surfside, or the farm at Eagle Lake, with Dan and a group of friends, cooking out and enjoying the outdoors and the company of others. He loved everything about the outdoors, whether it was gathering pecans, picking berries from his favorite berry patch, or even alligator hunting at the farm in Eagle Lake, or at the beach, where he loved to entertain friends, fish in San Luis Pass, and cook out, he was always glad to have friends join he and Dan, and always showed them how much he loved being with them. That was really Doug.

Doug is preceded in death by his parents, Vernon and Marjorie Dreher, and by his devoted partner of 33 years, Dan C. Smith lll. He is survived by his three siblings and their families; sister Leslie Herchline, and her husband, Larry, their daughter Laurel Linner, their son Lowell Herchline and his wife, Jenny, by his brother Daniel Dreher, and his wife, Candy, son, Dane, and his wife, Lori, daughter Deanna Urasek and her husband, Greg, son Derrick Dreher and his wife Jennifer, daughter Michelle Miller, and daughter Evie Collins and her husband Matt, and by sister Darla Markley, and her husband David, their daughter Dana Markley, their son Drew, and his wife, Brianne.

A memorial service celebrating Doug's life will be held at St Mark's United Methodist Church, 600 Pecore Street, 77009, on Wednesday, September 16, 2020, at 6 PM, on the front lawn.

A graveside service will be held at Fairfield Cemetery in West Lafayette, on Saturday October 3, 2020, at 11:00 AM. Friends are invited to lunch at the family farm after the service.

In lieu of flowers donations may be made in Doug's name to local public radio station KPFT (Houston Pacifica Radio 90.1) or to public television station KUHF (PBS Houston, Ch 8).

Please remember to wear a mask.