Block, Upload, Automoderated users, edit, move, protect, rollback
57,799
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Created page with "{{Infobox officeholder |name=Frank Kell Cahoon, Sr. |office=Texas State Representative for Midland County Districts 77 (first term) and 70 (second term) |term_star..."
{{Infobox officeholder
|name=Frank Kell Cahoon, Sr.
|office=[[Texas]] State Representative for Midland County Districts 77 (first term) and 70 (second term)
|term_start=January 12, 1965
|term_end=January 14, 1969
|preceded=William S. "Bill" Davis
|succeeded=[[Tom Craddick]] (now District 82)
|office2=Member of the [[Midland]] City Council
|term_start2=1972
|term_end2=1976
|party=[[Republican Party|Republican]]
|birth_date=June 20, 1934
|death_date=January 30, 2013 (aged 78)
|death_place=Midland, Texas
|birth_place=[[Wichita Falls, Texas, USA
|occupation=[[Oil]]man<br>
[[United States Army]] Corps of Engineers
|residence=Midland, Texas
|religion=[[Presbyterian]]
|spouse=Paula Powers Cahoon (married 1957–2013, his death)
|children=Corrinne Cahoon Bowers<br>
Frank Kell Cahoon, Jr.<br>
Joseph Cahoon<br>
Parents:<br>
Charles Wilbur, Jr., and Sibyl Kell Cahoon
|relations=[[Frank Kell]] (grandfather)<br>
[[Orville Bullington]] (uncle by marriage)
|alma_mater=Wichita Falls High School<br>Colorado School of Mines<br>[[University of Texas]] at [[Austin]]
|footnotes=
}}
'''Frank Kell Cahoon, Sr.''' (June 20, 1934 – January 30, 2013),<ref name=obit>{{cite web|url=http://www.npwelch.com/services.asp?page=odetail&id=56390&locid=1|title=Frank Kell Cahoon (1934–2013)|publisher=Npwelch.com|accessdate=April 10, 2013}}</ref> was an [[oil]]man and [[natural gas]] entrepreneur from [[Midland, Texas|Midland]], [[Texas]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.manta.com/c/mm465n0/frank-cahoon|title=Frank Cahoon|publisher=manta.com|accessdate=March 13, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.powerprofiles.com/profile/0000027645662/FRANK+CAHOON+KELL-MIDLAND-TX|title=Frank Kell Cahoon|publisher=powerprofiles.com|accessdate=March 13, 2011}}</ref> who was the only [[Republican Party|Republican]] member of the Texas House of Representatives in the regular 1965 legislative session following [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]'s landslide over [[Barry Goldwater]] in the 1964 presidential election.
L<ref>{{cite web|url=http://texasweekly.com/newsletter/tw19991206.html|title="Testing the Teflon", December 6, 1999|publisher=texasweekly.com|accessdate=March 13, 2011}}</ref> Cahoon served two terms in the legislature from 1965 to 1969.<ref name=legis>{{cite web|url=http://www.lrl.state.tx.us/legeLeaders/members/memberDisplay.cfm?memberID=792&leg=60&from=sessionList|title=Frank Cahoon|publisher=lrl.state.tx.us|accessdate=March 13, 2011}}</ref>
Cahoon was not the first Republican member of the chamber since [[Reconstruction]] but was outnumbered in his first term, 149 to 1.<ref name=uta/> By 2011, Republicans in the Texas House had reached their high of 101 members to 49 for the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrats]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ramparts360.com/uncategorized/two-democrats-defections-give-republicans-supermajority-in-texas-house/|author=Sibyl West|title="Two Democrats' defections give Republicans SUPERMAJORITY in Texas House"|date=December 14, 2010|publisher=Ramparts360.com|accessdate=March 14, 2011}}</ref> In January 2013,the month of Cahoon's death, there were ninety-five Republicans and fifty-five Democrats in the state House; by 2019, with losses in the mid-term elections in 2018, the number dropped to eighty-three Republicans with sixty-seven Democrats.
==Background==
Cahoon was born in [[Wichita Falls]] to Charles Wilbur Cahoon, Jr. (1897–1979), and the former Sibyl Kell (1899–1991).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi|title=Social Security Death Index |publisher=ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com|accessdate=March 13, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wichita-heritage.org/Newsletter/P%2063413%20WCHS%20Nsltr%20Fall%202009%20Booked.pdf|title=''Heritage Review'', 2009|publisher=wichita-heritage.org|accessdate=March 13, 2011}}</ref> His maternal grandfather and namesake, [[Frank Kell]] (December 2, 1859 – September 17, 1941), a native of Clifton in Bosque County in central Texas, was a diversified businessman and the owner or partner of six regional [[railroad]]s totaling 1,300 miles of track. Cahoon's father was a partner in one of the Kell railroads, the Clinton-Oklahoma-Western Railroad Company of Texas, which serviced part of the Texas Panhandle.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/eqc13|title=Clinton-Oklahoma-Western Railroad|publisher=tshaonline.org|accessdate=April 27, 2013}}</ref> Frank Kell also owned the Wichita Mill and Elevator Company, which he sold in 1928 to [[General Mills]] for cash and stock in the latter company. The senior Kell was a director of the [[Federal Reserve Bank]] of [[Dallas]] and a leading entrepreneur and philanthropist in Wichita Falls. In 1885, Frank Kell married the former Lula Kemp. He and his brother-in-law, Joseph A. Kemp, are considered the two principal builders of modern Wichita Falls. Kell and Kemp are names of major streets in Wichita Falls.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fke07|title=Kell, Frank|publisher=''The Handbook of Texas''|accessdate=March 13, 2011}}</ref> Cahooon's parents and maternal grandparents are interred at Riverview Cemetery in Wichita Falls.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gsr&GSln=Cahoon&GSiman=1&GSst=46&|title=Grave Search Results|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=March 13, 2011}}</ref>
Cahoon was a nephew by marriage of the Wichita Falls attorney [[Orville Bullington]], the Republican [[Governor||gubernatorial]] [[nominee]] in 1932, having lost to the Democrat Miriam Wallace Ferguson in her second nonconsecutive bid for the office. Bullington, a son-in-law of Frank Kell,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fbu18|title=''The Handbook of Texas'' on-line: Orville Bullington|publisher=tshaonline.org|accessdate=June 11, 2010}}</ref> was married until his death to Cahoon's aunt, the former Sadie Kell (1886–1960).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ancestry.com/search/?name=Sadie+Kell_Bullington&event=_wichita+falls-wichita-texas-usa_78666|title=Sadie Kell Bullington|publisher=Ancestry.com|accessdate=August 22, 2019}}</ref>
Frank Kell Cahoon lost his namesake grandfather when the boy was only seven years of age. Cahoon graduated in 1952 from Wichita Falls High School] along with another future legislator, [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] state Senator [[Ray Farabee]] of Wichita Falls. Coincidentally, Cahoon, Farabee, and their wives had a chance meeting in 2006 on a cruise ship in [[New Zealand]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.timesrecordnews.com/news/2007/nov/03/a-man-called-fairabee-getting-started-making-an/|title="A Man Called 'Fairbee': Former Wichita Falls lawyer, legislator known as man of respect"|date=November 3, 2007|publisher=''Wichita Falls Times Record News''|accessdate=March 13, 2011}}</ref>
Cahoon and his wife, the former Paula Powers (born November 11, 1935), both graduated in 1957 from the [[University of Texas]] at [[Austin]]. His degree was in [[geology]]. Cahoon originally attended the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, [[Colorado]], but he transferred after his freshman year to UT in Austin. He met Paula, scheduled to enroll in UT at theim in [[Abilene]].<ref name=obit/>
Cahoon was a first lieutenant in the [[United States Army]] Corps of Engineers stationed at Fort Hood] in Killeen, Texas, from 1957 to 1959, at which time the young couple and daughter, now Corrinne Cahoon Bowers and husband Steve of Austin, relocated to Midland.<ref name=obit/>
There are two Cahoon sons, Frank Kell Cahoon, Jr., and wife Debbie of Austin and Joseph Cahoon and wife Christie of [[Dallas]].<ref name=uta>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZdIDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA9&lpg=PA9&dq=Paula+Powers+Cahoon&source=bl&ots=LN9LqMq21L&sig=FAS7Q-ZNNsVFRgnU7fLsmWdBg7Q&hl=en&ei=6Uh9TZeBIqLC0QGBh8TOAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CDgQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=Paula%20Powers%20Cahoon&f=false|title=Sue Watkins, ''The Alcade'|date=1965|publisher=books.google.com|accessdate=March 13, 2011}}</ref> Older son Frank Kell Cahoon, Jr., is a filmmaker formerly in [[Hollywood]], known particularly for his work in the [[television]] 'series, 'Psych'' and ''The John Larroquette Show,'' and the film ''Battle: Los Angeles.''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://movies.nytimes.com/person/660955/Kell-Cahoon|title=Kell Cahoon|publisher=''[[The New York Times]]''|accessdate=March 13, 2011}}</ref>
In addition to his Texas oil holdings, Cahoon played a role in the construction of the Kenai oil refinery, one of the first such ventures in [[Alaska]].<ref name=obit/>
==Legislative politics==
On November 3, 1964, Cahoon was the only Republican elected to the legislature despite the Johnson landslide. Cahoon lwas the only member of his party in the Texas House. Two Republican [[U.S. Representative]]s, [[Bruce Alger]] of Dallas and Ed Foreman of [[Odessa, Texas|Odessa]], were unseated by Democratic opponents, Earle Cabell and Richard C. White, respectively. The only Republican n a statewide office at the time was Senator [[John Tower]], of Wichita Falls and later Dallas, whose seat was not contested that year. Tower's first wife, Lou Bullington Tower (1920–2001), coincidentally, was a cousin of Orville Bullington, Cahoon's uncle by marriage.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson/archives.hom/oralhistory.hom/tower/tower01.pdf|title=Lyndon Baines Johnson Library Oral History Collection, 1971|publisher=lbjlib.utexas.edu|accessdate=June 11, 2010}}</ref>
When the incumbent Republican Representative William S. Davis decided not to run again in 1964,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lrl.state.tx.us/legeLeaders/members/membersearch.cfm|title=Legislative Reference Library of Texas: William S. Davis|publisher=Lrl.state.tx.us|accessdate=March 16, 2011}}</ref> Cahoon was asked by party leaders to recruit a candidate. Ultimately, the Midland County GOP leadership urged Cahoon himself to run for the seat. Cahoon won the seat by a margin of 1,500 votes over his Democratic opponent. His legislative desk was placed in the middle of the House floor.<ref name=uta/> Cahoon served from District 77 in his first term and District 70 in the 1967–1969 session. The district is now No. 82. Cahoon was a member of the House Labor, Public Health, and Revenue and Taxation committees in both of his terms.<ref name=legis/>
In 1972, Cahoon and his legislative successor, [[Tom Craddick]], another Midland energy entrepreneur, encouraged their fellow oilman, [[Ernest Angelo, Jr.]], to seek the office of mayor of Midland. Incumbent Edwin H. Magruder, Jr., who had an impressive [[World War II]] record, did not seek a third two-year term that year.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mywesttexas.com/top_stories/article_c89eb33c-102c-5ec1-a0ce-639df8965b95.html#user-comment-area|author=Shanna Sissom|title=Magruder led a charmed life in peace and war|date=January 12, 2011|publisher=Mywesttexas.com|accessdate=March 8, 2011}}</ref> Craddick believed that the leading candidate for mayor, Mayor Pro Tem [[Pat M. Baskin]], a former chairman of the Midland County Democratic Executive Committee, would use the office to try to derail Craddick’s bid for a third term in the state House in the 1972 [[general election]]. Angelo agreed to run for mayor if Cahoon would seek one of the at-large city council seats. The deal was struck, and both Angelo and Cahoon ran and won.<ref>Billy Hathorn, "Mayor Ernest Angelo, Jr., of Midland and the 96-0 Reagan Sweep of Texas, May 1, 1976," ''West Texas Historical Association Yearbook'' Vol. 86 (2010), p. 83</ref>
==Civic affairs==
Cahoon served on the boards of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, the Permian Basin Petroleum Museum, the Texas Historical Foundation, and the Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute. He was active in the First [[Presbyterian]] Church of Midland.<ref name=obit/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.texashistoricalfoundation.org/boardandstaff|title=Texas Historical Foundation Board and Staff|publisher=texashistoricalfoundation.org|accessdate=March 13, 2011}}</ref>
He was also a member of the boards of Midland Memorial Hospital and the Museum of the Southwest.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.zoominfo.com/people/Cahoon_Frank_1260822600.aspx|title=Business profile of Frank K. Cahoon|publisher=zoominfo.com|accessdate=March 13, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.petroleummuseum.org/PDFs/2010%20profile.web.pdf|title=The Petroleum (2010 Year-End Review)|publisher=petroleummuseum.org|accessdate=March 13, 2011}}</ref> Cahoon was also active in the United Way of Midland.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.uwmidland.org/campaign/2006/lg.html|title=United Way of Midland: Live United|publisher=uwmidland.org|accessdate=March 13, 2011}}</ref> Cahoon was an active donor to his ''[[alma mater]]''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.utsystem.edu/giving/1881MemberListing.htm|title=1881 Society Members|publisher=utsystem.edu|accessdate=March 13, 2011}}</ref> as well as the local [[community college]], Midland College.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.midlandcollegefoundation.org/connected/downloads/2010/clarion_2010spring.pdf|title=Memorials to John Mills|publisher=midlandcllegefoundation.org|accessdate=March 13, 2011}}</ref> He was a large donor to the Midland Young Men's Christian Association.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.midlandymca.org/giving/contributors.html|title=Capital Campaign Contributors (February 9, 2005)|publisher=midlandymca.org|accessdate=March 13, 2011}}</ref>
In 2008, Cahoon contributed $2,000 to the candidacy of Goldwater's Senate successor, [[John McCain]], the unsuccessful Republican presidential nominee.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mywesttexas.com/news/top_stories/article_d8c11078-52a0-51a0-a7cc-9395b6ca69e5.html|title=Bob Campbell, "Local McCain supporters unfold checkbooks," July 17, 2008|publisher=''Midland Reporter-Telegram''|accessdate=March 13, 2011}}</ref> Earlier, Cahoon had donated to McCain's failed intra-party rival, [[Rudy Giuliani]], the former [[mayor of New York City]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/contributions/frank-cahoon.asp?cycle=08|title=Frank Cahoon: Political Campaign Contributions 2008 Election Cycle|publisher=campaignmoney.com|accessdate=March 13, 2011}}</ref>
Cahoon died at his home early in 2013 at the age of seventy-eight. His services were held in the First Presbyterian Church of Midland; he was cremated.<ref name=obit/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cahoon, Frank Kell}}
[[Category:Texas]]
[[Category:Business People]]
[[Category:Politicians]]
[[Category: Republicans]]
[[Category:Presbyterians]]
[[Category:United States Arm]]
|name=Frank Kell Cahoon, Sr.
|office=[[Texas]] State Representative for Midland County Districts 77 (first term) and 70 (second term)
|term_start=January 12, 1965
|term_end=January 14, 1969
|preceded=William S. "Bill" Davis
|succeeded=[[Tom Craddick]] (now District 82)
|office2=Member of the [[Midland]] City Council
|term_start2=1972
|term_end2=1976
|party=[[Republican Party|Republican]]
|birth_date=June 20, 1934
|death_date=January 30, 2013 (aged 78)
|death_place=Midland, Texas
|birth_place=[[Wichita Falls, Texas, USA
|occupation=[[Oil]]man<br>
[[United States Army]] Corps of Engineers
|residence=Midland, Texas
|religion=[[Presbyterian]]
|spouse=Paula Powers Cahoon (married 1957–2013, his death)
|children=Corrinne Cahoon Bowers<br>
Frank Kell Cahoon, Jr.<br>
Joseph Cahoon<br>
Parents:<br>
Charles Wilbur, Jr., and Sibyl Kell Cahoon
|relations=[[Frank Kell]] (grandfather)<br>
[[Orville Bullington]] (uncle by marriage)
|alma_mater=Wichita Falls High School<br>Colorado School of Mines<br>[[University of Texas]] at [[Austin]]
|footnotes=
}}
'''Frank Kell Cahoon, Sr.''' (June 20, 1934 – January 30, 2013),<ref name=obit>{{cite web|url=http://www.npwelch.com/services.asp?page=odetail&id=56390&locid=1|title=Frank Kell Cahoon (1934–2013)|publisher=Npwelch.com|accessdate=April 10, 2013}}</ref> was an [[oil]]man and [[natural gas]] entrepreneur from [[Midland, Texas|Midland]], [[Texas]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.manta.com/c/mm465n0/frank-cahoon|title=Frank Cahoon|publisher=manta.com|accessdate=March 13, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.powerprofiles.com/profile/0000027645662/FRANK+CAHOON+KELL-MIDLAND-TX|title=Frank Kell Cahoon|publisher=powerprofiles.com|accessdate=March 13, 2011}}</ref> who was the only [[Republican Party|Republican]] member of the Texas House of Representatives in the regular 1965 legislative session following [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]'s landslide over [[Barry Goldwater]] in the 1964 presidential election.
L<ref>{{cite web|url=http://texasweekly.com/newsletter/tw19991206.html|title="Testing the Teflon", December 6, 1999|publisher=texasweekly.com|accessdate=March 13, 2011}}</ref> Cahoon served two terms in the legislature from 1965 to 1969.<ref name=legis>{{cite web|url=http://www.lrl.state.tx.us/legeLeaders/members/memberDisplay.cfm?memberID=792&leg=60&from=sessionList|title=Frank Cahoon|publisher=lrl.state.tx.us|accessdate=March 13, 2011}}</ref>
Cahoon was not the first Republican member of the chamber since [[Reconstruction]] but was outnumbered in his first term, 149 to 1.<ref name=uta/> By 2011, Republicans in the Texas House had reached their high of 101 members to 49 for the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrats]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ramparts360.com/uncategorized/two-democrats-defections-give-republicans-supermajority-in-texas-house/|author=Sibyl West|title="Two Democrats' defections give Republicans SUPERMAJORITY in Texas House"|date=December 14, 2010|publisher=Ramparts360.com|accessdate=March 14, 2011}}</ref> In January 2013,the month of Cahoon's death, there were ninety-five Republicans and fifty-five Democrats in the state House; by 2019, with losses in the mid-term elections in 2018, the number dropped to eighty-three Republicans with sixty-seven Democrats.
==Background==
Cahoon was born in [[Wichita Falls]] to Charles Wilbur Cahoon, Jr. (1897–1979), and the former Sibyl Kell (1899–1991).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi|title=Social Security Death Index |publisher=ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com|accessdate=March 13, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wichita-heritage.org/Newsletter/P%2063413%20WCHS%20Nsltr%20Fall%202009%20Booked.pdf|title=''Heritage Review'', 2009|publisher=wichita-heritage.org|accessdate=March 13, 2011}}</ref> His maternal grandfather and namesake, [[Frank Kell]] (December 2, 1859 – September 17, 1941), a native of Clifton in Bosque County in central Texas, was a diversified businessman and the owner or partner of six regional [[railroad]]s totaling 1,300 miles of track. Cahoon's father was a partner in one of the Kell railroads, the Clinton-Oklahoma-Western Railroad Company of Texas, which serviced part of the Texas Panhandle.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/eqc13|title=Clinton-Oklahoma-Western Railroad|publisher=tshaonline.org|accessdate=April 27, 2013}}</ref> Frank Kell also owned the Wichita Mill and Elevator Company, which he sold in 1928 to [[General Mills]] for cash and stock in the latter company. The senior Kell was a director of the [[Federal Reserve Bank]] of [[Dallas]] and a leading entrepreneur and philanthropist in Wichita Falls. In 1885, Frank Kell married the former Lula Kemp. He and his brother-in-law, Joseph A. Kemp, are considered the two principal builders of modern Wichita Falls. Kell and Kemp are names of major streets in Wichita Falls.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fke07|title=Kell, Frank|publisher=''The Handbook of Texas''|accessdate=March 13, 2011}}</ref> Cahooon's parents and maternal grandparents are interred at Riverview Cemetery in Wichita Falls.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gsr&GSln=Cahoon&GSiman=1&GSst=46&|title=Grave Search Results|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=March 13, 2011}}</ref>
Cahoon was a nephew by marriage of the Wichita Falls attorney [[Orville Bullington]], the Republican [[Governor||gubernatorial]] [[nominee]] in 1932, having lost to the Democrat Miriam Wallace Ferguson in her second nonconsecutive bid for the office. Bullington, a son-in-law of Frank Kell,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fbu18|title=''The Handbook of Texas'' on-line: Orville Bullington|publisher=tshaonline.org|accessdate=June 11, 2010}}</ref> was married until his death to Cahoon's aunt, the former Sadie Kell (1886–1960).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ancestry.com/search/?name=Sadie+Kell_Bullington&event=_wichita+falls-wichita-texas-usa_78666|title=Sadie Kell Bullington|publisher=Ancestry.com|accessdate=August 22, 2019}}</ref>
Frank Kell Cahoon lost his namesake grandfather when the boy was only seven years of age. Cahoon graduated in 1952 from Wichita Falls High School] along with another future legislator, [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] state Senator [[Ray Farabee]] of Wichita Falls. Coincidentally, Cahoon, Farabee, and their wives had a chance meeting in 2006 on a cruise ship in [[New Zealand]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.timesrecordnews.com/news/2007/nov/03/a-man-called-fairabee-getting-started-making-an/|title="A Man Called 'Fairbee': Former Wichita Falls lawyer, legislator known as man of respect"|date=November 3, 2007|publisher=''Wichita Falls Times Record News''|accessdate=March 13, 2011}}</ref>
Cahoon and his wife, the former Paula Powers (born November 11, 1935), both graduated in 1957 from the [[University of Texas]] at [[Austin]]. His degree was in [[geology]]. Cahoon originally attended the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, [[Colorado]], but he transferred after his freshman year to UT in Austin. He met Paula, scheduled to enroll in UT at theim in [[Abilene]].<ref name=obit/>
Cahoon was a first lieutenant in the [[United States Army]] Corps of Engineers stationed at Fort Hood] in Killeen, Texas, from 1957 to 1959, at which time the young couple and daughter, now Corrinne Cahoon Bowers and husband Steve of Austin, relocated to Midland.<ref name=obit/>
There are two Cahoon sons, Frank Kell Cahoon, Jr., and wife Debbie of Austin and Joseph Cahoon and wife Christie of [[Dallas]].<ref name=uta>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZdIDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA9&lpg=PA9&dq=Paula+Powers+Cahoon&source=bl&ots=LN9LqMq21L&sig=FAS7Q-ZNNsVFRgnU7fLsmWdBg7Q&hl=en&ei=6Uh9TZeBIqLC0QGBh8TOAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CDgQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=Paula%20Powers%20Cahoon&f=false|title=Sue Watkins, ''The Alcade'|date=1965|publisher=books.google.com|accessdate=March 13, 2011}}</ref> Older son Frank Kell Cahoon, Jr., is a filmmaker formerly in [[Hollywood]], known particularly for his work in the [[television]] 'series, 'Psych'' and ''The John Larroquette Show,'' and the film ''Battle: Los Angeles.''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://movies.nytimes.com/person/660955/Kell-Cahoon|title=Kell Cahoon|publisher=''[[The New York Times]]''|accessdate=March 13, 2011}}</ref>
In addition to his Texas oil holdings, Cahoon played a role in the construction of the Kenai oil refinery, one of the first such ventures in [[Alaska]].<ref name=obit/>
==Legislative politics==
On November 3, 1964, Cahoon was the only Republican elected to the legislature despite the Johnson landslide. Cahoon lwas the only member of his party in the Texas House. Two Republican [[U.S. Representative]]s, [[Bruce Alger]] of Dallas and Ed Foreman of [[Odessa, Texas|Odessa]], were unseated by Democratic opponents, Earle Cabell and Richard C. White, respectively. The only Republican n a statewide office at the time was Senator [[John Tower]], of Wichita Falls and later Dallas, whose seat was not contested that year. Tower's first wife, Lou Bullington Tower (1920–2001), coincidentally, was a cousin of Orville Bullington, Cahoon's uncle by marriage.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson/archives.hom/oralhistory.hom/tower/tower01.pdf|title=Lyndon Baines Johnson Library Oral History Collection, 1971|publisher=lbjlib.utexas.edu|accessdate=June 11, 2010}}</ref>
When the incumbent Republican Representative William S. Davis decided not to run again in 1964,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lrl.state.tx.us/legeLeaders/members/membersearch.cfm|title=Legislative Reference Library of Texas: William S. Davis|publisher=Lrl.state.tx.us|accessdate=March 16, 2011}}</ref> Cahoon was asked by party leaders to recruit a candidate. Ultimately, the Midland County GOP leadership urged Cahoon himself to run for the seat. Cahoon won the seat by a margin of 1,500 votes over his Democratic opponent. His legislative desk was placed in the middle of the House floor.<ref name=uta/> Cahoon served from District 77 in his first term and District 70 in the 1967–1969 session. The district is now No. 82. Cahoon was a member of the House Labor, Public Health, and Revenue and Taxation committees in both of his terms.<ref name=legis/>
In 1972, Cahoon and his legislative successor, [[Tom Craddick]], another Midland energy entrepreneur, encouraged their fellow oilman, [[Ernest Angelo, Jr.]], to seek the office of mayor of Midland. Incumbent Edwin H. Magruder, Jr., who had an impressive [[World War II]] record, did not seek a third two-year term that year.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mywesttexas.com/top_stories/article_c89eb33c-102c-5ec1-a0ce-639df8965b95.html#user-comment-area|author=Shanna Sissom|title=Magruder led a charmed life in peace and war|date=January 12, 2011|publisher=Mywesttexas.com|accessdate=March 8, 2011}}</ref> Craddick believed that the leading candidate for mayor, Mayor Pro Tem [[Pat M. Baskin]], a former chairman of the Midland County Democratic Executive Committee, would use the office to try to derail Craddick’s bid for a third term in the state House in the 1972 [[general election]]. Angelo agreed to run for mayor if Cahoon would seek one of the at-large city council seats. The deal was struck, and both Angelo and Cahoon ran and won.<ref>Billy Hathorn, "Mayor Ernest Angelo, Jr., of Midland and the 96-0 Reagan Sweep of Texas, May 1, 1976," ''West Texas Historical Association Yearbook'' Vol. 86 (2010), p. 83</ref>
==Civic affairs==
Cahoon served on the boards of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, the Permian Basin Petroleum Museum, the Texas Historical Foundation, and the Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute. He was active in the First [[Presbyterian]] Church of Midland.<ref name=obit/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.texashistoricalfoundation.org/boardandstaff|title=Texas Historical Foundation Board and Staff|publisher=texashistoricalfoundation.org|accessdate=March 13, 2011}}</ref>
He was also a member of the boards of Midland Memorial Hospital and the Museum of the Southwest.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.zoominfo.com/people/Cahoon_Frank_1260822600.aspx|title=Business profile of Frank K. Cahoon|publisher=zoominfo.com|accessdate=March 13, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.petroleummuseum.org/PDFs/2010%20profile.web.pdf|title=The Petroleum (2010 Year-End Review)|publisher=petroleummuseum.org|accessdate=March 13, 2011}}</ref> Cahoon was also active in the United Way of Midland.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.uwmidland.org/campaign/2006/lg.html|title=United Way of Midland: Live United|publisher=uwmidland.org|accessdate=March 13, 2011}}</ref> Cahoon was an active donor to his ''[[alma mater]]''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.utsystem.edu/giving/1881MemberListing.htm|title=1881 Society Members|publisher=utsystem.edu|accessdate=March 13, 2011}}</ref> as well as the local [[community college]], Midland College.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.midlandcollegefoundation.org/connected/downloads/2010/clarion_2010spring.pdf|title=Memorials to John Mills|publisher=midlandcllegefoundation.org|accessdate=March 13, 2011}}</ref> He was a large donor to the Midland Young Men's Christian Association.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.midlandymca.org/giving/contributors.html|title=Capital Campaign Contributors (February 9, 2005)|publisher=midlandymca.org|accessdate=March 13, 2011}}</ref>
In 2008, Cahoon contributed $2,000 to the candidacy of Goldwater's Senate successor, [[John McCain]], the unsuccessful Republican presidential nominee.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mywesttexas.com/news/top_stories/article_d8c11078-52a0-51a0-a7cc-9395b6ca69e5.html|title=Bob Campbell, "Local McCain supporters unfold checkbooks," July 17, 2008|publisher=''Midland Reporter-Telegram''|accessdate=March 13, 2011}}</ref> Earlier, Cahoon had donated to McCain's failed intra-party rival, [[Rudy Giuliani]], the former [[mayor of New York City]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/contributions/frank-cahoon.asp?cycle=08|title=Frank Cahoon: Political Campaign Contributions 2008 Election Cycle|publisher=campaignmoney.com|accessdate=March 13, 2011}}</ref>
Cahoon died at his home early in 2013 at the age of seventy-eight. His services were held in the First Presbyterian Church of Midland; he was cremated.<ref name=obit/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cahoon, Frank Kell}}
[[Category:Texas]]
[[Category:Business People]]
[[Category:Politicians]]
[[Category: Republicans]]
[[Category:Presbyterians]]
[[Category:United States Arm]]