He was born Feb. 26, 1937, in Nortonville, the son of Orley A. and Marion E. (Keen) Bowen. He graduated from Valley Falls High School in 1955. He lived in Valley Falls since 1974 after moving there from Nortonville.

He was a heavy equipment operator with the Operators Union Local No. 101 in Kansas City, Mo., until his medical retirement in 1986.

He married Virginia Elizabeth Cropper April 21, 1967, in Valley Falls. She survives of the home.

Other survivors include four sons, Richard, Timothy, Steven and Edwin, all of Valley Falls; three daughters, Pamela Deathridge, Kansas City, Kan., Dorothea Drinkard, Denison, and Patricia Sutton, Edwardsville; and 11 grandchildren.

A grandson died earlier.

Friends may call from noon to 6 p.m. Tuesday at the funeral home.

The family suggests memorials to the Stanley Bowen Memorial Fund, to be selected at a later date.