The McDowell Family Combined Chronology

The McDowell Family Combined Chronology

The McDowell Children

Lora:

Lora (McDowell) Graziani is the firstborn of the McDowell Family and has two children Erica and Brock. Lora can be seen in the left of the photo (Pictured Right).

Rick:

Rick (Richard) McDowell is the middle child of the McDowell Family and has one child named Caleb. Rick can be seen to the furthest right of the photo (Pictured Right).

Adam:

Adam McDowell is the youngest of the McDowell Family and has one child named Jared. Adam can be seen to the left of the photo (Pictured Right).

Although the family moved a few times, the bulk of the three children’s childhood was spent in their Defiance home.

Fun Fact: Rick and Adam once attempted to make a submarine in their pond from Plywood and plexiglass. Scarily they were mildly successful.

The Singing McDowells/The McDowell Family

The family gospel group went by a few names over the years, but initially was started by Alice and Rich along with their children. The traveled from church to church playing music and sharing their testimony along the way.

 

Later, Alice and Rich would step back into a support role in the group when their son Rick took over the group and renamed it from “The McDowell Family” to “The Singing McDowells” This change reflected the new group dynamic that consisted of more than just immediate family members. Rick can be seen posing for a picture in the newspaper with the new group (Pictured Right).

Fun Fact: in the original publication, the authors incorrectly labeled Caleb as “Karen”

In addition to the new name, Rick also introduced newly self-written and published songs into the group’s roster of songs like “Heir Conditioned” and “Down in Georgia” which were often based on experiences that the group had on their travels. In particular, Down in Georgia was a parody of “The Devil was Down in Georgia” which he wrote after the group’s bus broke down in Georgia after a singing.