Robert Parker Gowing

R. Parker Gowing, 81, died February 5, 2012, at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle from head injuries sustained in a traffic accident three days earlier in Bellevue, WA. He was born in Louisville, KY to the late Avis (Dubia) and Earl P. Gowing; his parents had grown up in the Chicago area, where there were strong family connections, and he was baptized at the Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago when he was just a few weeks old. Mr. Gowing attended schools in Louisville, first at St. James parochial school, then the Rugby University School. In 1952 he graduated from Princeton University with an A.B. in Economics. He earned a Masters in Business Administration from Xavier University in Cincinnati, OH, and a Masters in Public Health from Tulane University in New Orleans, LA. His professional life included several years as a caseworker in Cincinnati and California. While studying for a doctorate in Business Administration, for which he completed all but the dissertation at Arizona State University and Texas Tech University, he taught business statistics, finance and computer programming at Eastern Kentucky University, San Diego State University and the University of Notre Dame. During this time he had an evaluation to determine the cause of severe headaches that occurred whenever he read for even a short time. A significant defect in eye muscle movement led to solutions that permitted him to study the science courses he had not been able to take while in college. With success in that area, Mr. Gowing enrolled in the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at Tulane, earning his M.P.H. in Epidemiology, thus applying his strong comprehension of statistics to a discipline that, for him, was more interesting than business and finance. After a long friendship he and Clover Brodhead of Cincinnati were married in 1967. Remaining childfree, they worked as educators in Ohio, Kentucky, Arizona, California, Texas, Indiana, Tennessee and Illinois before moving to Washington State in 1985. After retirement the Gowings spent time in New Hampshire and north central Arizona, but nowhere else could equal the favorable attributes of the North Olympic Peninsula, and they settled in Sequim, WA in 2000. Mr. Gowing was a member of the Freedom From Religion Foundation of Madison, WN (www.FFRF.org), of Juan de Fuca Freethinkers of Clallam County, a Life Member of the Friends of the Sequim Library, and a supporter of Planned Parenthood of the Great  Northwest (www.plannedparenthood.org/ppgnw/), as well as local animal welfare and rescue programs. His wife Clover survives Mr. Gowing. Also surviving are the children of his late sister, Patricia Gowing Plumb, Kate Plumb and Bob Plumb of Long Island, NY, Annie Plumb and Amy Plumb of Manhattan, NY, Mary Plumb of Ashland, OR; and close relatives Heather Brodhead of Santa Barbara, CA and Kristen Hagen of Sacramento, CA. He will be greatly missed by the Western branch of the Gowing Family whose members were unknown to him before moving to Kirkland; they share an ancestor who emigrated from the British Isles to Massachusetts in 1638. There will be no services. Memorials may be made to Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest, or to local animal welfare and rescue agencies of choice. An open house will be held in honor of Parker on Sunday, June 3, 2012, from 1 PM to 4 PM, at a private home in Sequim. For information and to RSVP, please call 360.683.5648, or contact gowing@olympus.net.