| Notes |
- His Find a Grave page says he died in Sacramento; family information says he died in Emeryville.
"Dowell, Emery B. 'Soap'." Sacramento Bee, 10 Dec 2017:
Emery B. "Soap" Dowell, 93, died at home following a brief illness on November 21, 2017. He lived most of his life in Sacramento, beginning in 1966 as representative for the California Hospital Association in implementation of the Federal and state Medicare and Medicaid health insurance programs in Washington D.C. and California. Soap was born January 2, 1924, in Kansas City, MO, the son of John E. Dowell and LuCrece Bevington Dowell, and raised in Adrian, MO, where his family published the Adrian Journal, the community's newspaper founded by his grandfather in 1889. During World War II, he served as a bomber pilot in the United States Naval Air Corps. He graduated from Arizona State University in 1951. Soap was the California Hospital Association's associate executive director and director of government relations from 1966 to 1972, when he was appointed a senior vice president and director of government relations for Blue Cross. In 1990 he was appointed to the California Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board, creator of the state's Healthy Families Program, a government-sponsored health insurer of over one million lower-income California children and teenagers. He served there for 12 years. Soap was co-author of a textbook titled "Governing California," published by the Institute for Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley. He worked diligently in retirement to help achieve national health insurance and assure quality healthcare for all. In 1991, the Sacramento Bar Association honored his contributions to health law and in 1993 the California Medical Association cited him for his efforts to achieve national health insurance. He was a founding director of Methodist Hospital, where he served for over 20 years. He also was a director of Planned Parenthood of Sacramento, Premier Access Dental Corporation and Molina Health Care Corporation. Soap always led by example and was extremely proud of the contributions made by the many young people he mentored in the health care industry. Soap married Ruth Timberlake of Phoenix in 1950. They moved to Wasco, CA in 1952, where he was editor of The Wasco News. They also lived in San Francisco and Mill Valley, during which time Soap worked for the press office of PG&E. They moved with their three children to Sacramento in 1966. Soap and Ruth traveled extensively, raised a menagerie of pets and enjoyed the company of many wonderful friends. Soap was always active and athletic, maintaining a rigorous swimming routine most of his life. Ruth passed in 2006. In 2007, Soap married Barbara Crandall Nielsen of Mesa, AZ. She survives him. He is also survived by his three children, Mary Dowell Hernandez, Bill Dowell and Carol Dowell; son-in-law, Jaime Hernandez, grandson Matt Hernandez and by the family's longtime home caregiver, Celia Leon. Funeral services were private. The family suggests contributions to Planned Parenthood or the Sacramento SPCA.
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Nielsen Hayden genealogy
1924 - 2017 (93 years)
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