Frank R. Bowen: March 12, 2019

Published 1:26 pm Tuesday, March 19, 2019

PENSACOLA, Fla. —  Frank Randolph Bowen, “Randy,” 81, died March 12, 2019, in Pensacola, Fla., after complications following elective surgery. A native of Americus and lifetime resident, Mr. Bowen was born Nov. 30, 1937, the son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Fred Pasco Bowen (Willie Parker). Randy attended the Americus school system and graduated from Americus High School in the class of 1955. He was then accepted to the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, where he was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and from where he graduated in 1959, with a bachelor of science in industrial management. After leaving Atlanta, Mr. Bowen worked for the Dreyfus Fund investment group on Wall Street in New York.  In 1960, he joined the U.S. Marines as a private first class and was discharged as a captain in June 1965.

In 1962, Randy married Joyce Spivey of Moultrie, Ga. They lived in Fredericksburg, Va.; Camp Lejeune, N.C., where their son, Craig Randolph, was born; and Thomasville, Ga. In 1968, Mr. Bowen returned to Americus, where he served as vice president of Bowen Supply Inc. There he specialized in warehouse management and cost control of his family company that was a national distributor of building components for the manufactured housing industry. In 1990, he formed another corporation, Bowen Sales, which he sold in 1996, after six successful years. Upon retirement and becoming grandparents, the Bowens bought a vacation home in Santa Rosa Beach, Fla., where they could spend more time with their daughter, Claudia Ruth and grandson, Bennett.

Mr. Bowen was of the Baptist faith and was a past member of the Americus Rotary Club. Randy had a great sense of humor and ability to capitalize on whatever life threw his way. Always knowing how to make the best of a potentially bad situation, Randy and some of his SAE fraternity brothers managed to get themselves snowed in the North Georgia mountains in the mid-‘50s with lots of “spirits,” some Agnes Scott undergrads and the then Georgia Governor Griffin’s SAE son. This well-planned snow day getaway landed them a photo on the front page of the Atlanta Journal Constitution and eternal fame in the SAE scrapbook. Randy enjoyed taking Florida day trips with his wife, watching football with his grandson, and checking in on the stock market at closing bell.

Mr. Bowen is survived by his wife of 56 years, Joyce of Santa Rosa Beach, Fla., and Americus, Ga.; his son, Craig, of Atlanta; his daughter Claudia, and grandson Bennett Bowen Minor of Santa Rosa Beach, Fla. He was preceded in death by his parents Fred P. and Willie Bowen; his younger sister, Freddie Jean (1995); an older brother, Harrold (2007); and his loving in-laws Jack and Ruth Spivey. The family will be having a private burial service in Moultrie, Ga. Memorials may be sent to the Sumter Humane Society (Americus) or Alaqua Animal Refuge (Freeport, Fla.).