In Remembrance: Richard A. Bowers ’50E, ’52MEng Died on January 29 2019

Richard “Dick” Alan Bowers passed away on January 29, 2019.

Dick will be remembered by all who knew him as the epitome of humility, responsibility, good manners, frugality, and ever-present gratitude.

Born June 19, 1928, he was an eighth-generation Pennsylvania Dutch Lutheran from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, third son of Jacob and Esther (Greenholt) Bowers.  He graduated from John Harris High School where excelled in three sports, captained the football team, and earned high academic honors.  Dick attended Yale on full scholarship where he lettered in football and track and field, and earned bachelor (1950) and master (1952) of engineering degrees.

Dick was a career naval officer, a proud Seabee for 20 years, serving at posts on the East and West Coasts, as well assignments in Antarctica, Oslo, and Vietnam (1968), retiring in 1972 as commander. His most satisfying (volunteer) assignment was as a 27-year-old LTJG leading a group of men to build the first permanent structures at the South Pole (November 1956–January 1957). The work he did to help design, plan, and build this scientific station, along with a support station at McMurdo Sound (part of Operation Deep Freeze), were chronicled in National Geographicand the book Deep Freeze.  Although the station was meant only for scientists working there for the International Geophysical Year 1957–1958, and is now buried deep below the ice, the station became the foundation for six decades of scientific research at the pole.

After retiring from the military with numerous distinctions, including Legion of Merit and Bronze Star, Dick worked for Lafayette College as director of plant operations, then retired to Dalton, New Hampshire, then State College, Pennsylvania, then Indianapolis.

Dick will be greatly missed by his wife, children, and grandchildren.  When Sally (Foster) and Dick married 67 years ago at Yale’s Branford Chapel, they had no idea the adventures they would share. They moved over 20 times, making the most of each new assignment, enjoying camping in California, cross country skiing in Norway, weeks in a VW bus traveling through Europe with three kids, building a dream home with their own hands in New Hampshire, and sailing in Pennsylvania. Through creativity and economizing, they provided everything needed for their three children: Larry Bowers, DDS (Susan Eubank), of Washington, DC; Jeff Bowers (Kristen) of Ponce Inlet, Florida; and Susie (Steve Huffer) of Indianapolis.  Dick is survived by five grandchildren: Langley (Laura) and Case Bowers, and Andy, Matt, and Maggie Huffer; and one great-grandchild, Warren Bowers.

All who came to know him respected and admired his quiet competence and dignity.

Dick will be buried at Christ Church, Littlestown, Pennsylvania, next to his parents and surrounded by scores of ancestors.  

Services will be announced at a later date. In lieu of flowers, please consider a contribution to the Alzheimer’s Association.

—Submitted by the family.