Robert W. Bowman, Jr. ("Bob")
884 Ocean Ave
New London CT 06320

(860) 447-1673

rwbowman@mac.com

Update 2023

Like the song says, "I'm Still Here."

Mona and I are still living in our house here in Connecticut, see-sawing back and forth about down-sizing, but not getting any closer to a decision.

We're both reasonably well, Mona with two bionic knees, and I surviving (so far) from a cancer this last year. Motorcycling is a thing of the past, given up a few years ago after a crash that left me banged up but still alive, thanks to a helmet and armored leathers.

I've acquired my fourth Australian Shepherd, a blue merle male named Levi. He keeps me busy and active. I continue seeing my personal trainer and going to the gym several times a week. I'm also riding a bicycle, though I'm cheating a bit since it is an e-bike. I drank the Kool-Aid in the last few years and now own a couple of Leica cameras and lenses; truth to tell, though, I'm no better at photography than I was before.

I'm sorry that I won't be attending our 60th year reunion. It's clear it will be a great time, thanks to all of you who have done such wonderful planning. I wish each and every '63-er good health, happiness, and all the best.

Posted 2013

So, a bit more information about my last 50 years….

After high school, I went to Hanover College (BA Psychology), UCLA (MA Psychology), Purdue (ABD, Experimental Psychology), and Indiana (PhD Instructional Technology). Along the way, I was a camp counselor, consulted with the Chicago police department, sold firearms and sporting goods, worked as a technical writer, and managed a cider mill. After earning my doctorate I was on the faculty at Virginia Tech, but for most of my professional career I worked at Bell Laboratories in New Jersey.

Since retirement, I've volunteered as an adult literacy tutor, worked with an economic development committee, and managed the collections of a nearby maritime museum. Photography, a string of Australian Shepherds, motorcycling, and continuing education courses have pretty much rounded out my time.

I look forward to catching up with any other 63'ers who are also so inclined.

"How did you get there from here?

 What did you have to go through?"

          Stephen Sondheim, Merrily We Roll Along

Posted 2008

Ducati Bob

“1-9-6-3, we’re the class of ‘63, yay, rah, seniors!”

Only now “seniors” has a whole different meaning, doesn’t it?

My family lived in West Lafayette for only four years, but I’m grateful those were my high school years, and that my high school was West Lafayette High School.  (My family moved to West Lafayette from Michigan, and then to California the summer of our graduation.)  Some memories of those years, in no particular order:

Collecting insects with Dean Pickett and Larry Parker before freshman year for Mr. Bush’s biology class.

Mr. DeYoung throwing a chalkboard eraser at Charlie Dobson, and Charlie getting up, walking to the front of the classroom, picking up Mr. DeYoung’s coffee thermos, and tossing it out the open window.  (You can’t make this stuff up.)

Marveling at how smart my classmates were—you know who you are—in PSSC physics, trigonometry, or chemistry.  They did homework!  Teachers: Miss Sinks, “the final irony....”, Mr. Guy and solving for the unknowns—was one of them green ink? Typing class with Mr. Poloncy.  Geometry with Mr. Tatlock.  Advanced algebra with Mr. Fites. (Did they have first names?  Other than Mr. Guy?)

The heartache of young love, slow dancing to Johnny Mathis records at post-game mixers in the cafeteria, The Wall, Morris-Bryant, Frisch’s, the prom.  (Learning too late that love sometimes does mean having to say you’re sorry.)

Who could forget the radio and the music?  Dick Biondi on WLS.  Runaround Sue, Runaway, The Twist, Telstar, He’s a Rebel, He’s so Fine, Palisades Park, Beyond the Sea.  You got the good with the bad. Riding around with Gary Dienhart at the wheel of that big green 1960 Oldsmobile, radio at full blast.

Running stairs, doing pushups, climbing the rope, and sweating it out in the wrestling room.  Spitting in a cup on the ride to away wrestling meets, trying to lose that last quarter pound to make weight.  Basketball players in Marilyn Monroe shorts and Chuck Taylor All-Star basketball shoes.

32-30.

They seem like innocent times now.

On a more personal side, I married Mona Harmon, from Louisville, in  1975.  She has been an understanding and loving partner.  Mona’s work with Warner-Lambert took us from New Jersey to Ann Arbor, and from  there, with Pfizer, here to New London.  We have no children.  Both my parents are gone, my mother having died in 1993, after a long bout with Alzheimers disease, and my father in 2004, of cancer.  For those who might remember my sister and brothers, Mavis lives in southern California and has been an artist and now a manager of a bookstore.  Charles lives in Tipton, Indiana, having retired from teaching; he now works for Barnes and Noble.  David lives in Honolulu, where he works at the University of Hawaii.  He also plays the clarinet, in the Royal Hawaiian Band.

A song by Mary McCaslin says,

"Remember old friends we've met along the way,
The gifts they've given stay with us every day."

Thank you, old friends.


Bob

Robert Bowman
New London CT USA