Rodney Mason Bowen

Rodney Mason Bowen, age 76, of Manhattan, entered his Heavenly Home July 22, 2014, from the Good Shepherd Hospice House in Manhattan.

He was born March 12, 1938, in Seminole, Oklahoma, the son of Jasper V. and Golden A. (Marvel) Bowen. He had been a Manhattan resident for 50 years.

Rod graduated from Chase High School in 1955 and attended Kansas State University.

He served for four years in the United States Army, honorably discharged as a SP5. Rod worked for 36 years with Farm Bureau Mutual Company and served the State of Kansas as the Auto Underwriting Manager, retiring in 2000.

Rod was a former member of First Baptist Church and served as a Deacon and Trustee. Since 2004 he has been a member of Grace Baptist Church and Trubey Care Cell. He was active in Jaycees and for 18 years he helped coordinate the Miss Manhattan-K-State Scholarship Pageant including one year as Director.

He loved fishing with his grandchildren and teaching them how to drive. He enjoyed reading and collected John Grisham novels, and traveling. He and Nancy had been on 11 cruises and he planned a 50th Class Reunion for his high school class with a cruise to the inside passage in Alaska.

On June 27, 1959, at the Sterling Presbyterian Church in Sterling, Kansas, he was married to the former Nancy Lee Broadstreet. Mrs. Bowen survives of the home in Manhattan. Additional survivors include his four children: David Lane Bowen and his wife Jody of White Bear Lake, MN, Brent Edward Bowen of Overland Park, KS, Cynthia Lynne Huber and her husband Larry of Manhattan, and Amy Janelle Blackburn and her husband Jason of Shawnee, KS; seven grandchildren: Andrew, Ashley, Briana, Schuyler, Rodney, Brittany and Brett; one great-granddaughter, Anastasia; and two in-laws: Jo Bowen and Donald Keesling; and his nieces and nephews.

Rod was preceded in death by his parents and two siblings: Vernon “Bud” Bowen and Mary Jo Keesling, and his very close in-laws Bernard and Jennie Broadstreet.

A Celebration of Life will be held at 11:00 A.M. Saturday, August 9th, at the Grace Baptist Church, 2901 Dickens Avenue, Manhattan, with Pastor Bob Flack and Dan Learned officiating. Inurnment will be at a later date in Marion, KS.

The family will receive friends prior to the service from 10:00 until 10:45 A.M. Saturday at the church.

Online condolences may be left for the family by clicking on “Send Condolences” on this page.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Good Shepherd Hospice House or the Meadowlark Hills Foundation for Bramlage House. Contributions may be left in care of the Yorgensen-Meloan-Londeen Funeral Home, 1616 Poyntz Avenue, Manhattan, KS 66502.