Laurence Rogers Bowman
Burial Details
Obituaries
Grand Junction Daily Sentinel page 3C - December 11, 2011
The greatest generation lost one
of its finest when Rogers Bowman,
shipped out for duty, in the
words of the Marines Hymn, to
"guard the streets of Heaven".
Rogers was born in Grand
Junction in 1920, to Laurence and
Geneva Bowman and spent most
of his childhood roaming freely in
the Bookcliffs, the National
Monument, Grand Mesa, and the
Uncompagre, spawning a lifelong
love of exploring, hiking and
backpacking. He was the oldest of
six children.
Bowman attended GJHS and had
the honor of playing football on
one of the finest prep football
teams in the nation's history. In
1936, Rogers' junior year, the
Grand Junction Tigers won the
Colorado State Football Championship
with a 13 -0 record. The team was never scored on, rolling up
506 points to their opponents 0. The following season, the 1937
team, added nine more shutout/victories for a total of 22 straight.
That is the second longest win/shutout streak in the nation's history
for a prep football team. His team lost in the state playoffs that year
and the 1938 Class Annual noted regarding the game: "In the closing
minutes of the game, little Rogers Bowman led a sustained drive
of 70 yards to the Lamar one foot line where they were stopped by
the final whistle." Rogers went on to play freshman football at the
University of Colorado, Mesa Junior College and in the Marine
Corps.
Bowman volunteered for the Marine Corps prior to Pearl Harbor
and served initially as a drill instructor. He volunteered for the
newly formed Marine Corps 2nd Raider Battalion, famously known
as Carlson's Raiders, and was assigned for training in demolitions,
utilizing the skills he learned handling dynamite while building trails
for the Forest Service on the Grand Mesa. However, the Marine
Corps, facing a shortage of drill instructors, reassigned all that had
volunteered for the Raiders back to duty as drill instructors. Later in
the war, he served in defense of Midway Island with rank of a Gunnery
Sargeant.
Shortly after his discharge from the Marine Corps, he married his
high school and college sweetheart, Marilyn Gorsuch, and began
work with Chevron at refineries in California, Utah, Colorado and
The Philippines. Rogers and Marilyn raised two children, Kay Lynn
and Scott. When Chevron opened the American Gilsonite refinery
west of Grand Junction in 1957, they were able to transfer and to
live and raise their family in their hometown. In 1972, Chevron
moved Rogers to the Salt Lake City area where he and Marilyn
spent the next 38 years in their lovely home in Bountiful, Utah.
Upon Rogers' retirement in 1984, he and Marilyn traveled
extensively including numerous trips abroad, many times to visit
their daughter, Kay Lynn. In retirement, Rogers spent much time
backpacking with his two buddies, Ken and Tom, and continued
doing so, well into his 80s; with annual excursions into the Wind
Rivers of Wyoming, the Grand Canyon, and numerous wilderness
trails in southern Utah as well as a trekking adventure in
Switzerland. He looked forward each year to driving the sag wagon
for his son, Scott, and his friends on multiday mountain bike rides,
locating the best campsites, gathering firewood and making sure the
beer was iced.
In 2008, he moved Marilyn, the love of his life, back to Grand
Junction to be closer to family. He was Marilyn's primary caregiver
for the last few years, willing himself to be there for her despite his
own battle with cancer. Semper Fi - Always Faithful. Marilyn died
in July of this year. Rogers has left us to be with her.
Rogers is survived by his daughter, Kay Lynn Dunton, Honolulu,
HI; son, Scott Bowman, Palisade, CO; granddaughter, Katie
Bowman; grandson, Drew Bowman, and by his brother, Bob
Bowman and sister, Nita Lee.
A private service will be held next summer to scatter Rogers ashes
in the mountains he loved so.
In lieu of flowers, a donation may be made to the Marine Corp
Museum, c/o Marine Corps Heritage Foundation; 3800 Fettler Park
Drive, Suite 104, Dumfries, VA 22025-2043. Condolences may be
left at Martinmortuary.com.
