Dan Downs

November 11, 1961 - September 1, 2020

Dan Downs was born on November 11, 1961 in Berrien County, Michigan. Dan Downs was the third child of seven children born to William and Ethel (Blackful) Downs Sr. Dan Downs family relocated to the Illinois area when he was three years old. Dan attended public school in East Chicago Heights (now Ford Heights), Illinois and went to Bloom Trail High School, where he played basketball and received a full scholarship. He attended the University of Arkansas in Pine Bluff in Pinebluff, Arkansas. Dan Downs confessed Christ at an early age. In 1982, Dan Downs married Elizabeth Tina Barnes and to this union two children were born Marquita and Steven Downs. In 1982, Dan Downs joined the United States Army and was stationed in Oklahoma and he moved the family out there where he was stationed. Dan Downs was a fun loving and giving person and always willing to help out whenever he could. Dan Downs loved to work on peoples cars, fixing them and help keeping them running. He was also a handyman. “Dan the Man” as he was affectionately called, departed this life on September 1, 2020. Dan was preceded in death by his parents William and Ethel Downs Sr.; his brother Mark Blackful; his uncles Charles Blackful Sr., Leroy Blackful Jr., Albert Echols, and William Whitfield; aunts Terri Johnson and Ollie Blackful; his cousins Dana Beck and Stephanie; and his stepsister Debbie Jean Downs. Dan Downs Sr. leaves to cherish his memory, his children Marquita (Lee) Downs-Brown, Steven (Nicole) Downs, Dan Downs Jr., and Lykeisha Lewis; two stepdaughters Natasha Barnes and Lamonica Patterson; three brothers Darryl (Monica) Downs, Condon (Yolanda) Downs, and William Downs Jr.; three sisters Liz Downs, LaDonna (Dewayne) Boyd and Sedonia Downs; his aunts and uncles Buleah Jones, Unice and Frank Harden, Jacqueline and Bernard Richardson, Jerry and Pearl Sergers, Tyrone Blackful Sr., Lawrence Blackful Sr., Eleanor Davis, Cansada Beck, DanEthel Whitfield, Karen Blackful and Rose Blackful; 25 grandchildren; a childhood friend Darnell “Dino” Singleton; good friend Curtis Dudley; and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.