Spencer Ford Rowan

Spencer Ford Rowan, a pioneer in the offshore oil drilling industry, died in Annapolis, Maryland, on June 13, 2006. He died peacefully of heart failure at age 88. Mr. Rowan's career paralleled the growth of the offshore oil business. After graduating from the University of Oklahoma with a degree in petroleum engineering, he worked in the oilfields of coastal Louisiana, starting as a roughneck and eventually becoming president of Sea Drilling Corporation. He also worked for Texaco and American Tidelands. He was active in the construction of oil drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico and the North Sea. Mr. Rowan, a native of Wharton, Texas, lived much of his life in Metairie, Louisiana. After evacuating before Hurricane Katrina, he and his wife of 64 years, Jane Stucky Rowan, lived for a while in Wharton before returning to the New Orleans area. An avid outdoorsman, his hobbies included hunting, fishing and boating. He is survived by his wife and three children, Ford Rowan and wife Patricia of Annapolis, Maryland, Jeanne M. Rowan of Harpswell, Maine and Reese M. Rowan and wife Janene of Austin, Texas. His sisters, Lorena R. Brock and her husband, Lawrence Brock of Wharton, also survive him. He is also survived by six grandchildren: Trey Jordan of Wilmington, N.C., Spencer Jordan of Los Angeles, Cal., Allison Rowan of Bethesda, MD, Carmen Rowan, Katherine Rowan and Jonathan Rowan, all of Austin, Texas. Funeral services will be held at half past two o'clock in the afternoon on Saturday, the 17th of June 2006 in the Chapel of the Angels at Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery, 6900 Lawndale Avenue, Houston. In lieu of flowers, the family request that donations be directed to St. Martin's Episcopal Church, 2216 Metairie Road, Metairie, LA, as part of the hurricane recovery effort. Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to Hardesty Funeral Home in Annapolis, MD and Geo. H. Lewis & Sons Funeral Directors in Houston, TX.