Pamela Lee (Cochran) McDowell

Pamela Lee (Cochran) McDowell

Early Life

Born September 15, 1968, Pamela was the second daughter of John and Peggy Cochran. She went on to marry Richard McDowell in 1991.

 

Fun Fact: When her and Rick were around the age of 5, both of their sisters (Cindy and Lora) arranged a small wedding behind their church, where Rick gave her a pop tab as a ring. Pamela kept the pop tab and had it encased in acrylic. She currently keeps it on her nightstand.

Acting Career

Pamela is credited as an extra in several films such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Secret of the Ooze which she can be seen in the background of the club scene alongside the likes of Vanilla Ice (Pictured Right)

 

Fun Fact: Pamela received an invitation to Vanilla Ice’s birthday but did not attend.

Extra Work

Pamela was involved as an extra in several movies listed below:

-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 The Secret of the Ooze

-Weekend at Bernie’s

-Sleeping with the enemy

-The Exorcist 3 (Pictured Right)

-Alan & Naomi

-Betsy’s Wedding

 

Leading Roles

Pamela was also a lead actor in some smaller films and Projects listed below:

-Learning to fly (Generation Courage Production Company, unpublished)

-TCT tv. commercial reenactment 

Education, Teaching and Administration

 

Education

During Pamela’s college education, she attained an associate in business. She also attained the rank of 4^th degree blackbelt in Karate with a focus on Taekwondo techniques.

Administration

Pamela and her husband Rick ran the Lighthouse motel for a time before it was eventually sold, and they relocated back to Defiance Ohio where they owned and operated Defiance Christian Martial Arts. Once her son Caleb started school Pam would work part time in the “Lion’s Den” which was an afterschool program at St. John Lutheran School where she would bookkeep and perform administrative tasks for the school.

Teaching

Later after the family relocated to South Carolina, Pamela would work as a substitute teacher for Mullins Marion Christian School for the 4^th Grade class. 

Video Contests

Pamela later became interested video editing and production for online contests. She was successful in her efforts, winning prizes like an Artist edition HP laptop (Pictured Right) as well as a “Flip video camcorder”
she also won various sums of money. Her videos often featured her husband Rick and their airplane. Pamela did start a company for her productions titled CPR Productions which was stood for “Caleb, Pam, and Rick”. Their YouTube channel (Buckeye196899) still contains these videos as of writing. Link: https://www.youtube.com/@buckeye196899

 

Fun Fact: Pictured right you can see a snapshot from their Louisiana Hot Sauce video where Rick portrayed a pirate that had traveled to find the “Real” buried treasure which was a bottle of “Louisiana Hot Sauce” (Pictured Right).

Pam’s Cars

 

Although she’s had many cars over the years, here is a list of some noteworthy ones:

 

Mazda RX7

Porsche 924S

 

Corolla S

 

Porsche Boxster

 

Mustang Convertible

 

Fun Fact: on a drive while living in California, Rick drove Pam’s Porsche 924S through a puddle of standing water and hydro locked the engine the couple recalls “as if to add insult to injury, a Honda Civic drove through the puddle immediately after.”

Richard (Rick) Edward McDowell

Richard (Rick) Edward McDowell

Early Life and Military Service

Rick, the middle child of Alice and Rich, was born on December 25, 1968. He went on to marry Pamela (Cochran) McDowell in 1991 while serving in the Marine Corps where he specialized in avionics. Rick and Pam’s wedding can be seen (Pictured Below). The couple would later have one son, Caleb, on May 22, 1998

Fun Fact: Rick was a certified scuba diver at the age of 15 and initially planned on becoming a marine biologist. 

Postal Career and Karate School

Rick worked as a carrier for the United States Postal Service in Defiance Ohio before moving his family to South Carolina for advancement opportunity. During his time in Defiance, he also owned and operated Defiance Christian Martial Arts with his wife Pam. After their move to SC, he worked in Marion County under Tommy Pelham whom he would operate as his 204B until he was accepted for a position as Postmaster in Bennettsville SC where he remained until retirement in October 2022.

Civil Air Patrol and Private Piloting

Rick received his pilot’s license prior to moving to South Carolina and maintained a membership with the
Marion County civil air patrol chapter until he moved to Bennettsville. Rick owned and maintained several airplanes during his time as a pilot, the first being a kit plane that he owned and worked on in Ohio, he later sold that plane and bought a Grumman lynx (Pictured Right), and later a Grumman Traveler. Rick decided not to continue his piloting career after a close call with a bird strike above Cheraw, SC, after

which, he repaired and sold his Grumman Traveler (Tail Number N1321R). His plane can be seen in Hartsville, SC (Pictured Right).

Post Retirement

After Retirement, Rick and his wife Pam, remained in Bennettsville, acquiring the land that they call “ODT Acres”, a reference to Peggy Cochran who was known for the phrase “One Day at a Time” which they abbreviated to “ODT”.

 

Rick and his wife spent much of their retirement fishing, hunting, and building structures on their property. The couple can be seen seated on the foundation of their first small cabin at ODT Acres which was constructed almost exclusively with native lumber that they milled on their sawmill. (Pictured Right).

Ricks Cars

 

Being that both his father and father in-law both worked at General Motors, Rick gravitated to Chevrolet and Pontiac vehicles. Below is a notable, however not fully inclusive, list of some of the cars he’s owned over the years.

 

1975 Camaro

            Rick initially had a 1975 Camaro as his first car. 1975 Camaro can be seen (Pictured Right)

 

 

1968 Firebird

            Rick traded his 75 Camaro back to his parents in exchange for their 68 Firebird. He painted this car several times until he finally painted it blue before selling it.

Fun Fact: Rick credits his hatred of the blue paint job for why he sold this car, and why he refuses to paint any car blue.

 

1986 Firebird

            Rick later purchased a base model 86 Firebird which he had until a trip to Florida where he got into a car accident and totaled it.

Fun Fact: The trip to Florida was a 20-hour drive, the flight back only took 8 hours.

 

 

Fiero Ferrari Kit Car

            While on base in California, Rick and Pam worked on a Ferrari Kit car. The couple documented their experience in a VHS which they would later rediscover when going through John and Peg’s things.

 

 

 

V8 swapped Fiero

            The initial plan with this was to do a Lamborghini kit car after the swap; however, their plans changed after the swap.

 

 

 

 

1996 Chevrolet K1500 Z71

            Rick purchased this truck around the time that his son was born, and used it to plow snow in Defiance, Ohio. He kept it until around the time he retired, after which he sold it due to rust in the cab from road salt.