Eilleen Marie Lewis Bowen, BHS 1935?

Eilleen Marie Lewis Bowen, BHS 1935?

Pasadena Star-News (CA) - Tuesday, September 28, 2010

BOWEN-Eilleen Marie Lewis Bowen, 92, formerly of Pasadena, CA, died Thursday September 23, 2010, at Ingleside Assisted Living in Atascadero, CA.

Mrs. Bowen was born in 1917 in Ipswich, South Dakota, and was the only child of Cora Liggett Lewis and Elmer David Lewis. She moved with her family to Burbank, CA in 1925, where she graduated from Burbank High School .

An honors graduate from University of California, Los Angeles, Eilleen became a teacher for more than 25 years in Redlands, Santa Maria, and Pasadena, California. From the late 1950s until 1974, she taught in the Pasadena public school system, and was a member of Pi Lambda Theta and Delta Kappa Gamma. She also was an active member of the California Teachers Association and the National Education Association.

Following her retirement in 1974, she and her husband Charles Gordon Bowen made their home in the Central Coast region for the rest of their lives. Los Osos was her home until moving into assisted living in Atascadero in 2008. Mrs. Bowen was a member of the first group of docents at the Morro Bay State Park Museum of Natural History, where she later served as President of the Docent Council and as Chairman of the Natural History Association, volunteering over 7500 hours. The Learning Center at the museum was named in her honor. She organized the museum library and served as the docent librarian for over 25 years.

Additionally, she was one of the founding members of the Friends of the Estuary at Morro Bay, and was a member of the Morro Coast Audubon Society. In 1997, she was honored by Cuesta College as a "Woman of Distinction," receiving the Community and Public Service Volunteer award.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 53 years, Charles, who died in 1996. Surviving are her two sons, J. Thomas Bowen and his wife, Sandra, of Lafayette, CA, and Gordon Lewis Bowen and his wife, Linda, of Staunton, VA; four granddaughters, Rebecca Bowen Jamil (of Fremont, CA), Jennifer Bowen Wieland (of Shawnee, KS), Susanne Eilleen Bowen (of Lafayette, CA), and Lisa Bowen Heymann (of Rancho Cucamonga, CA); and five great grandchildren: Maya Sandra Jamil, Benjamin Bowen Wieland, Margaret Rose Wieland, Zachary Cyrus Wieland, and Noah Bowen Heymann.

Cremation arrangements have been entrusted to Benedict-Rettey Mortuary in Morro Bay. A family memorial service will be held at a later date. Contributions in her memory may be made to the Morro Bay Museum of Natural History, State Park Road, Morro Bay, CA 93442.