Schell City names Gayman Grand Marshall

Dan Gayman was born in Denver, Colorado on Jan.y 22, 1937 and lived with his parents, Leo and Lucy Gayman, in the Rocky Mountains there until the family moved to Missouri in 1941.  The Gayman’s purchased land west of Schell City to farm and  raise livestock. They later moved and farmed the  Cresap Ranch, now known as the Four Rivers Wildlife Conservation Area. Dan’s father was  struck and killed by lightning while working on the Cresap Ranch on July 7, 1945. This marked a  major turning point in the life of the Gayman family. Lucy was now a widow and the mother of seven young children. The baby, Dean, was two weeks old when  his father was killed.

Schell City Grand Marshall Dan Gayman.

The family moved back to their farm west of Schell City, milked cows and  Dan and his siblings attended Flat Rock School. Lucy later married Dale Ijams a World War  II veteran and the family again moved back to the Cresap Ranch where Dale farmed with his  brother Ward Ijams. The Gayman/Ijams family lived and farmed the Cresap Ranch for  several years. Dan graduated  from the 8th grade in 1949 and later attended and graduated from Schell City High  School in 1954.

After graduation he worked in Kansas City, and attended part time classes at Metropolitan Junior  College, later transferring to Missouri State University where he graduated with  honors. Dan married Deloris (Allen) Gayman in 1958 while serving in the U.S. Air  Force. He was serving during 1961 while the Berlin Wall was under way, and following that,  the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 during the Presidency of John F. Kennedy .

Following his military service, Dan began teaching school. First at Schell City  Public School, teaching a combined 5th/6th Grade class and also coached the Junior  High Basketball. Max Gee, an outstanding area athlete played on this 8th Grade team before transferring to El  Dorado Springs. Gee later became a standout out star at Missouri State University.

Dan later taught for a time at the Drexel Public School before moving his family to  Eden Chalet, Colorado where he became Dean of a Christian Prep School, preparing  Senior High School students with a Christian foundation that prepared them for secular  life in American Colleges. Dan, Deloris and their children subsequently returned to Missouri  and Dan was employed by the State of Missouri for a period of time before he returned  to teaching at Walker, Missouri. He served both as a teacher/Principal at Walker High School for  a period of ten years before going into full time Evangelistic Work.

Dan and Deloris traveled from 1976 up to the time of the passing of Deloris in 2009 from  lymphoma cancer. They traveled together, and many summers traveled with  their  children from coast to coast across the United States conducting evangelistic meetings.  Dan also conducted evangelistic meetings in the British Isles, Germany, South Africa,  Australia and New Zealand.

He has continuously served his local Church, primarily as Pastor or Co-Pastor  beginning in 1960 and continues in this role today. He and his late wife Deloris are the  parents of three daughters, Robin Coleman, Julie Benson, and Dana Buttorff, along with three sons, Douglas Gayman, Tim Gayman, and Jon Gayman. They have 35  biological grandchildren and 23 great-grandchildren.

In his continued active role in the local Church, Dan does extensive writing and  speaking and still lives on the family farm that he and Deloris made their family home after it was  purchased in 1984.