Obituary of Cody McMahan

Cody Wynn McMahan of Dallas died on January 28, 2023, at the age of 57 from complications of colon cancer with his husband Mike House and other loved ones by his side. The family would like to thank the nurses and staff of Faith Presbyterian Hospice for the excellent, loving, and compassionate care Cody received at home and at their in-patient facility. Cody was born in Carlsbad, New Mexico, and raised in McAlester, Oklahoma. He attended schools in Massachusetts and Oklahoma, where he received a degree in counseling. Cody spent time during college teaching English as a second language in South Korea and Japan. After college, he worked in West Texas at a center for troubled youth. Eventually, Cody settled in Dallas and started his career working in bookstores, with his final position as a Community Relations Manager at Barnes and Noble. In that capacity, he worked with school districts and other institutions, including the Dallas Independent School District, as a resource for curriculum and educational materials. While hosting book signing events, Cody especially loved working with authors ranging from President George W. Bush to Ozzy Osbourne. He was most honored to host Maya Angelou on two occasions. When not at the bookstore, Cody was a highly respected debate judge, primarily in the Dallas area, with various schools including Jesuit Preparatory. Cody was a curious soul, lifelong learner, and teacher who sought knowledge in many areas and strived to share what he learned with others. He was a truth seeker but had a low tolerance for a lack of compassion, narrow-mindedness, bigotry, or bullying. His mischievous wit and occasional sarcasm endeared him to many. Cody loved reading, cooking, gardening, traveling, and spending time with his husband Mike, dog Hunter and friends. Despite his cancer diagnosis, Cody lived life to the fullest experiencing many bucket-list adventures with Mike taking trips to Hawaii, Alaska, California, and Colorado. Cody was involved in the struggle for LGBTQ+ rights and other justice issues, always a friend of the underdog. In his faith journey, he didn’t shy away from the difficult and challenging questions. At the core of his faith, Cody lived with an unconditionally loving God. He aspired to remember that he was loved and shared that unconditional love with others. The place where he found a community of faith to support him in his journey was Northaven United Methodist Church, Dallas, where he married Mike in 2017. Cody was a loving husband, a loyal friend, and a caring son, brother, and uncle. He was preceded in death by his father, Charles McMahan, and brother, Clay McMahan. He is survived by his husband, Reverend Michael House, his mother, Carron Sue Hamilton, and his sister, Charla McMahan of McAlester, Oklahoma, and several nephews and their families. Cody’s Celebration of Life will be held on February 4, 2023, at 3:00 p.m. at Northaven United Methodist Church, 11211 Preston Road, Dallas, Texas. 75230. The service will be live-streamed at www.northaven.org. For those who desire, memorials may be made to the following organizations that were special to Cody: Northaven United Methodist Church (Northaven.org), Faith Presbyterian Hospice (faithpreshospice.org), Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, or Equality Texas (equalitytexas.org).