Christopher Smith Cowles

1939 - 2026

Christopher Smith Cowles
06/25/1939 - 01/07/2026
Christopher Smith Cowles (Chris) was born to Alice (nee Smith) of Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts, and Laurence Cowles of Burlington, Vermont, on June 25, 1939. Although born in Houston, he inherited a great deal of the down-east ethic from his parents who had moved from New York in 1934, during the depression.
Chris attended St. Johns School and graduated in 1957. He began working with computers in 1958 and continued on that path for the rest of his life. He studied at University of Houston, where he was in the group of engineering students initiating Eta Kappa Nu, the student honor society of the Institute of Radio Engineers (now, IEEE).
Upon graduation in 1964, Chris began working at Shell Oil Company as a research electrical engineer, and remained there for 29 years, during which he was recognized for outstanding performance. In 1969 he married his Irish wife, Delia Clancy Cowles.
When Shell Oil Co. implemented a major personnel cut in 1993, Chris took a "temporary" job with Valco Instruments Co., developing gas chromatography equipment. That "temporary" job turned into 21 years during which he designed a number of new instruments and implemented control methods not previously used.
Upon retirement, Chris researched and restored a navigation aid developed during WWII, the Bendix Flux-Gate Gyro Compass. He wrote and published a book describing the history of the system and its operation, and that system is now part of the National WWII Museum in New Orleans. Chris held 17 patents, assigned to the companies for which he worked. He was widely read in the classics and subjects such as mathematics, electronics, and physics. Among other pieces, he read Proust three times cover-to-cover.
Chris is preceded in death by his parents and brother David.
He is survived by his wife Delia, daughters Helen (Milton) and Christine (Mauricio), his brother Alan Cowles (Linda), sisters-in-law Sally Cowles, Marie Clancy O'Flaherty, Teresa Clancy Cierans, Ann O'Gorman, nieces and nephews Christopher (Tami), Charles (Kim), Brendan (Heather), Emily (Greg), and by his special friends George and Judy Rose, Sut and Neva Oishi, and many loving friends and extended family. He will be dearly missed.
A visitation with the family will be held at Bradshaw-Carter Funeral Home,1734 W Alabama Street, Saturday, January 24, 2026, from one o'clock until four o'clock in the afternoon. The memorial service will begin at half past one o'clock followed by a reception.
For those who cannot attend in person, please visit www.bradshawcarter.com to view the live stream under Chris' obituary.