Jon Galt Bowman

1931 - 2024

Jon Galt Bowman
Born: June 17, 1931
Died: December 6, 2024
Jon began his adventurous life in Anaconda, Montana, the son of Crete Dillon Bowman and J.W. "Jack" Bowman, and grandson of pioneer E.J. Bowman, who built the Daly Bank & Trust Company in the heyday of the Anaconda Copper Company. E.J. also bred Arabian horses for racing at a time when quarter horses were the norm. When Jon was 5, the family moved to Sterling, Illinois, where Jack's father-in-law P.W. Dillon had offered his son-in-law permanent employment at his steel mill. Jon still spent every summer in Montana with his grandparents at their place on Georgetown Lake. As a teenager he worked as a packer at Mt. Haggin dude ranch, taking guests on pack trips along the Continental Divide. These were happy times, spent following his grandfather EJ around, riding horses, learning how to fix things, and absorbing E. J's self-reliant, can-do spirit.
The fiercely confident frontier spirit remained in Jon's blood all his life, sometimes leading him into scrapes. When let out for recess in grade school, he thought school was finished for the day, and went off to play in the woods…not returning to afternoon class! His parents' generous support and forgiving nature set him up for a lifetime of positive outlook, love of adventure, and a good-humored approach to others.
As Jon was never happy in school, his grandfather Dillon suggested Jon attend his alma mater, Shattuck Military Academy in Minnesota. Military discipline did not sit easily with him at first. When he did finally earn a promotion, he missed the ceremony – and the promotion - by going AWOL to visit the local girls' school. Due to another detention he even missed his own graduation, including a surprise visit from his grandparents. After joining the wrestling team and becoming a platoon leader he excelled, and in later years he spoke of this time as being the making of him.
After a frustrating semester in college, he enlisted in the Air Force, training in career guidance, which allowed him to place others, but also to choose placements for himself. He posted himself to several bases in the US and Germany, including Scott Air Force Base where he was assigned to the wife of the Base Commander to set up a riding stable for the officers' wives, a role to which he was admirably suited. In 1952 he posted himself to North Africa, spending 2 years with the 34th Radio Squadron, at Wheelus AFB in Tripoli, Libya. He loved the desert and the Libyan culture, but also the easy access to Italy, often hitching a ride on the provisioning plane to enjoy Italian food and the dolce vita in Rome and the Adriatic coast. In 1954 he took an early discharge to take advantage of the GI bill, and enrolled in business school at Menlo College in California. Characteristically, his discharge included the condition that the Air Force transport all his goods back to the USA, including his Jaguar Mark V sedan, which he had purchased from a Libyan sheik.
Jon still found formal education difficult, until he met his future wife Pat, a Stanford girl, who agreed to help write all his papers. He recalled several papers being returned with "A+! Well done Pat!" written on the covering page. Leaving Menlo, he and Pat married, and in typical frontier fashion he took his new bride on a 3-week pack trip in Montana, along with his best friend, and, puzzlingly, a single tent. However, his love of cooking and good food and wine meant they were well provisioned. Pulling a small trailer with a jeep, he and Pat then headed to Alaska where he hoped to land a job with an airline. They stopped in Dawson Creek, B.C. for supplies and were interviewed by the local radio station for a show about tourists' impressions. The resonance of Jon's voice was noted by the station owner, who offered him a job on the spot.
After a year of DJing, living in a 10ft trailer with no heat, they moved to Rockford, Illinois, where Jon worked on maintenance for a small airline. Then in another of the abrupt career changes which characterized his life, he went into the printing trade, building a successful business, with plants in Pontiac and Rockford.
But the frontier spirit still coursed in his veins. Looking for new opportunities, he moved his young family to Seattle in the late 60's, where he quickly made friends and connections in business, government and non-profit circles. He went into real estate, setting up a partnership which ran successfully for many decades. One of their first purchases was the Blanchard Boat Company on Lake Union, which Jon ran for many years. This gave both his children the opportunity to absorb the hands-on skills of boat building and repair, which they loved.
He became increasingly philanthropic in the fields of criminal justice, education, and health care, serving on many boards including the Saul Haas Foundation (now InvestED), which supports school children in Washington. He chaired the Pacific Medical Center in Seattle for 10 years, was appointed to the Washington State Hospital Commission by then Governor Dan Evans, served as a trustee for both Seattle University and Menlo College, and was on the National Advisory Board for Rocky Mountain College. His favorite cause was the Museum of Flight, where he served on the board for over 40 years, helping it to become a museum of international prominence, offering aerospace education programs for thousands of students. He retired from the Board last April, at age 93, but still attended meetings by Zoom.
His private life centered on two of his passions – flying and boating. He had earned his pilot's license as a teenager, but took up flying seriously after he moved to Seattle. He teamed up with Bud Granley, a well-known Northwest airshow pilot, and they developed a stunning aerobatic routine which they performed at airshows in the Northwest and western Canada for many years. He and his second wife Ann, also a pilot, flew a wide variety of planes around the country, to meetings and airshows, and to the annual Experimental Aircraft Association fly-in at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where Jon served on the board of Warbirds of America.
In 1968 he bought a steel trawler on which the family cruised from Baja to Alaska. He later built a large motor vessel, "Patrician," that he and his family lived on for a number of years, cruising the waters of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. In the early '90s he and Ann bought property in Anacortes, Washington, built a house on Lake Campbell, and cruised the Northwest for months at a time on their beloved Dutch trawler "Constant." Jon continued to fly airshows and was a founding member of the North Cascades QB hangar.
Jon made fast friends and held them close throughout his life. He felt life should be lived and shared to the fullest, and his family and friends were beneficiaries of his enthusiasm for everything he did. His commitment to volunteer work never wavered, and in his final days he established a scholarship for the Rocky Mountain College Aviation Program.
Jon leaves his wife Ann, daughter Tracy Deveren Bowman (Nick Browne), son Timothy Dillon Bowman (Jane Thornton), Tim's children Jon and Anna, great-granddaughter Katherine, sisters Crete Harvey and Diana Neely and numerous nieces and nephews.
There will be a celebratory gathering in Jon's honor April 27, 2025, 2-5pm, at the Heritage Flight Museum, Skagit Regional Airport, Burlington, WA.
Donations in Jon's memory may be made to the Museum of Flight, InvestED, or the charity of your choice.