Post by Okwes on Mar 27, 2007 15:13:59 GMT -5
Imogene Bowen, Upper Skagit tribal leader, dead at 71
01/15/2007
Associated Press
Imogene Bowen, who overcame poverty and alcoholism to become a leader in
her American Indian tribe and a prominent Democratic party activist, is
dead at 71.
Bowen, former chairwoman of the Skagit County Democrats, president of
the Washington State Rainbow Coalition and a member of former Gov. Mike
Lowry's "Citizen Cabinet," died Jan. 5 at her home, friends and
relatives told The Seattle Times.
"Imogene was one of a half-dozen people you had to talk to if you were a
politician headed to northwest Washington," Lowry said.
At her funeral last Tuesday, her son, Joe, a lawyer in Mount Vernon,
recalled how former President Bill Clinton went to greet her after he
finished a speech she attended in Seattle in 1994, standing just behind
the rope line.
"I'll always remember his people guiding him toward my mother, saying,
'That's her right there,'" he said.
Bowen was born in Sauk and at age 10, her son said, was taken from her
family to a government boarding school in Oregon where tribal customs
and language were banned, her son said.
She later overcame hard times, drinking and her own doubts to become a
founding member of an intertribal housing authority and helped the Upper
Skagit Tribe secure land where about one-third of the members now live.
Besides encouraging her son to become a lawyer, she earned a paralegal
degree from the Antioch School of Law, then enrolled at Skagit Valley
College, transferred to Western Washington University and earned a
degree in political science with honors, graduating on the same day her
son received his degree from the University of Washington Law School.
She was a delegate to the 1988 Democratic national Convention, serving
as a floor whip, and headed the county Democratic organization in
1991-93.
Other survivors include children Kay Knott and Jay Bowen, both of Mount
Vernon; Gina Fredburg and Jack, John and Ray Bowen, all of
Sedro-Woolley, and 24 grandchildren.
01/15/2007
Associated Press
Imogene Bowen, who overcame poverty and alcoholism to become a leader in
her American Indian tribe and a prominent Democratic party activist, is
dead at 71.
Bowen, former chairwoman of the Skagit County Democrats, president of
the Washington State Rainbow Coalition and a member of former Gov. Mike
Lowry's "Citizen Cabinet," died Jan. 5 at her home, friends and
relatives told The Seattle Times.
"Imogene was one of a half-dozen people you had to talk to if you were a
politician headed to northwest Washington," Lowry said.
At her funeral last Tuesday, her son, Joe, a lawyer in Mount Vernon,
recalled how former President Bill Clinton went to greet her after he
finished a speech she attended in Seattle in 1994, standing just behind
the rope line.
"I'll always remember his people guiding him toward my mother, saying,
'That's her right there,'" he said.
Bowen was born in Sauk and at age 10, her son said, was taken from her
family to a government boarding school in Oregon where tribal customs
and language were banned, her son said.
She later overcame hard times, drinking and her own doubts to become a
founding member of an intertribal housing authority and helped the Upper
Skagit Tribe secure land where about one-third of the members now live.
Besides encouraging her son to become a lawyer, she earned a paralegal
degree from the Antioch School of Law, then enrolled at Skagit Valley
College, transferred to Western Washington University and earned a
degree in political science with honors, graduating on the same day her
son received his degree from the University of Washington Law School.
She was a delegate to the 1988 Democratic national Convention, serving
as a floor whip, and headed the county Democratic organization in
1991-93.
Other survivors include children Kay Knott and Jay Bowen, both of Mount
Vernon; Gina Fredburg and Jack, John and Ray Bowen, all of
Sedro-Woolley, and 24 grandchildren.