Building leaders

Group adds four to Oklahoma Housing Hall of Fame

The Oklahoma Home Builders Association has added f our builders to its Oklahoma Housing Hall of Fame: J.W. Mashburn, of Oklahoma City; Gene McKown, of Norman; Mike Gilles, of Edmond; and the late Don Herrington, of Tulsa.

• Gene McKown, 75, co-owner of Ideal Homes of Norman, is a longtime builder, developer, business owner, and philanthropist. He started building in 1969 and has built more than 10,000 homes in the Oklahoma City area.

Ideal Homes, which he founded with his son, Vernon McKown, and Todd Booze in 1990, is known as a pioneer of energy efficiency. Ideal was the first builder in the country to build affordable Energy Star homes. Ideal built the first affordable zero-energy home. Ideal built a home for a local family for “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.”

McKown raised funds and helped construct 32 cottages for local Food

and Shelter project, and cut the ribbon on The Salvation Army's Judy McKown Children' s Activity Center, fulfilling a promise to his late wife, Judy.

• J.W. Mashburn, 86, owner of J. W. Ma sh burn Homes since 1960, has been a leader in the development of south Oklahoma City. He has built more than 2,000 homes, most in the 15 subdivisions his J.W. Mashburn Development Inc. developed in Oklahoma and Cleveland counties.

He has always supported education through involvement with the Oklahoma State University Alumni Association, Oklahoma City Public Schools and Capitol Hill alumni association.

• Mike Gilles, 59, owner of Savannah Builders LLC, is a leader in building high-performance, energy- efficient homes utilizing geothermal technology.

Through personal conta ct, he led Oklahoma to become a leader in contributions to Build-PAC, the lobbying arm of the National Association of Home Builders. He helped found the Certified Professional Builder Program. He has been chairman of the Oklahoma Home Builders Foundation, which has donated more than $1 million to charities that help children.

• Donald L. Herrington, who died in 1999, was a midcentury developer, builder and Realtor.

He joined the Tulsa Home Builders Association in 1948, and over t he years became involved at all levels. He was an industry innovator who pioneered the in-slab perimeter heat and air distribution/ vapor barrier, a process still used today. The Home Builders Association of Greater memorialized his legacy of selfless service and industry influence with creation of the Don Herrington Award.

New leaders

The Oklahoma Home Builders Association also installed 2020 officers at the annual meeting, held at 21c Museum Hotel.

• Curtis McCarty, owner of C.A. McCarty Construction in Norman, is president.

• Jim Schuff, of Vesta Homes in Oklahoma City, is vice president-treasurer

• Brandon Jackson, of Tara Homes in Tulsa, is vice president-secretary

• Briana Ross, an attorney in Tulsa, is chairman of the Associates Council.

[PHOTO PROVIDED] OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVES] [METRO CREATIVE CONNECTION] Above, left: Mike Gilles, owner of Savannah Builders LLC, is a new member of the Oklahoma Housing Hall of Fame. [BRYAN TERRY, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVES] Above, right: Don Herrington was a midcentury developer, builder and Realtor. Top, left: Gene McKown, new member of the Oklahoma Housing Hall of Fame, gets a hug from April Heiple as volunteers help residents move into tiny houses in a village built for the homeless by Food and Shelter for Friends in Norman in 2017. [THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVES] Top, right: J.W. Mashburn, a new member of the Oklahoma Housing Hall of Fame, talks about a model home in the Deer Brook addition in northwest Oklahoma City in this 2017 photo. [NATE BILLINGS / THE

[PHOTO PROVIDED] Left: Curtis McCarty, of Norman, is sworn in as 2020 president of the Oklahoma Home Builders Association. [PHOTO PROVIDED] Right: Jim Schuff, 2020 vice president-treasurer, and Brandon Jackson, vice president-secretary, of the Oklahoma Home Builders Association.