Eldridge M. “Popeye” Bowen, age 92, of Prince Frederick, MD, a longtime resident of Tracy’s Landing and Lothian, MD passed away January 6, 2012 at Calvert Memorial Hospital in Prince Frederick. Popeye was born December 23, 1919 in Adelina, MD, now part of Prince Frederick, to Molly (Montgomery) and Eldridge C. Bowen. He was raised in Fairhaven, MD and lived in Tracy’s Landing for many years. He married Patricia “Patty” Kirby on July 3, 1982 and they lived in Lothian, MD and Prince Frederick for the past year and one half. Popeye was a lifelong farmer and a truck driver with the Anne Arundel County Pubic Works Department. He also hauled loads of tobacco for many local farmers to the tobacco markets in Upper Marlboro.
Popeye was a faithful member of Friendship United Methodist Church, and a former member of Deale Volunteer Fire Department. In his leisure time, Popeye enjoyed baseball and taking bus trips to the casinos in Delaware where he liked playing the slot machines.
He was preceded in death by his parents and by six siblings. He is survived by his devoted wife Patty Bowen, daughters Margaret Dyar of Huntingtown, MD and Nancy Skinner of Stevensville, MD, and by a son Raymond Bowen of Lansing, MI. He is also survived by granddaughters Sandra Callow, Loretta Czarnomski and Bridgett Bowen, and by four great-grandchildren.