Leroy Hilton Bowen, Jr., 87, of Prince Frederick died June 24, 2013, at his residence. He was born August 30, 1925, in Barstow MD to Leroy Hilton Bowen, Sr. and Nellie Mae Dalrymple Bowen. They lived and worked on the family’s ancestral Barstow farmland until 1938 when his father bought his own farm on Stoakley Road. Leaving school at the age of thirteen to work full time on his father’s and his uncles’ farms he eventually met his future bride, Lorraine Parks, when she worked as a clerk at Goldstein’s Department Store in Prince Frederick. They were married in 1946, and built a home and raised their five children on Stoakley Farm. He enjoyed hunting squirrels, rabbits, ducks and geese, and especially quails with his beloved setter and pointer bird dogs. In addition to farming tobacco, wheat and corn, Leroy worked for several local building contractors as an all purpose carpenter of houses and fine cabinetry. In the early 1970’s after his father and uncle Eugene passed away, he spent more of his time farming and applied his carpenter skills to building gun cabinets, cedar chests, shelves and other wood projects for family and friends. He continued to raise mainly tobacco until the Maryland State Buy Out in 1998. Thereafter he rented several local farms and raised hundreds of acres of corn, wheat, barley, and soy beans until his retirement from farming after the 2009 crop seasons. Leroy was known for his neatly planted and maintained fields and the quality of his agricultural products. He took great pride in the condition which he kept his farming equipment and the many farm buildings he constructed to store it. He was a farmer’s farmer and one of only a few remaining traditional Calvert growers.
He was preceded in death by his parents and his grandson Roy Wesley Bowen who died in 2005. He is survived by his loving wife of 66 years, Edith Lorraine Bowen; his brothers Raymond D. Bowen of Barstow and Kenneth H. Bowen of Prince Frederick; and his sister Katherine R. Nicht of Timonium; his five children: Connie Lynn Cosgrove and her husband John A. Cosgrove, Sr. of Barstow; Thomas Leroy Bowen and his wife Jo Ann Bowen of Prince Frederick; Pamela Carol Cooksey and her husband Thomas Cooksey, Jr. of Barstow; Debora Kay Ireland and her husband Jeffery Ireland of Plum Point; and Paula Denise Amos and her husband Paul Amos of Barstow; his grandchildren: John A. Cosgrove, Jr. and his wife Cathy of St. Leonard; Daniel S. Bowen of Prince Frederick; Christopher D. Hiner of Lusby; Sarah E. and Joey P. Amos of Barstow; and his great grandchildren: Kaitlyn and Wesley Cosgrove; and Cameron Wesley Bowen.
Family will receive friends from 2:00 to 4:00 PM and from 6:00 to 8:00 PM on Friday June 28th at Rausch Funeral Home, 4405 Broomes Island Road, Port Republic. His funeral service will be held at 10:00 AM on Saturday June 29th at the Huntingtown United Methodist Church, 4020 Hunting Creek Road,Huntingtown. Interment will be at Asbury Cemetery, 3700 Hallowing Point Road, Barstow. Pallbearers are Henry Hawkins, Robert D. Hall, Jr., Leonard Ogden, Larry Bowen, David Bowen, and Scott Bowen. Memorial contributions may be made to Calvert Hospice, P.O. Box 838, 238 Merrimac Court, Prince Frederick MD 20678; or Make-A-Wish Foundation, America Gift Processing Center, PO Box 6062, Albert Lea, MN 56007-6662. Funeral arrangements are being provided by Rausch Funeral Home in Port Republic.