George William Bowen, Jr., age 81, of Buda, Texas passed away November 9, 2019.
George was born December 29, 1937 in Brackenridge Hospital, Austin, Texas to George W. Bowen, Sr. and Annie Ola Case Bowen. He grew up in Austin, graduating from Austin High in 1955. Always curious and a studious, industries fellow, George continued his education at the University of Texas at Austin and completed an Associates Degree in Accounting from Austin Community College.
With an accounting degree in hand, George went to work and while employed with Chatleff Controls, met Johnnie Mae Wyatt. They married in 1962 and celebrated 57 years of marriage recently. Accounting was not challenging enough for George and he moved into production management at Chatleff Controls and embarked on a lifelong pursuit of carpentry, machining, restoration and tinkering.
George and Johnnie created their own mobile home park from the ground up. First, purchasing the land, installing the septic system, then purchasing worn out mobile homes, restoring them and renting them to residents of the mobile home park, one residence at a time. They maintained the mobile home park until only recently when George’s health began to decline.
Mobile homes were not his only hobby, traveling across country in an RV, also kept George and Johnnie busy. They especially loved the mountains of Colorado and Balloon Fest in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In addition to land travel, they enjoyed several cruises on the Carnival line as well.
George is survived by his wife of 57 years, Johnnie Mae Wyatt Bowen, son Ricky Bowen (Donna), step-son Mike Griffin (Mary), brother-in-law Cecil Wyatt (Elaine), sisters-in-law Eula B. Stanley and Lorraine -Darby. He is also survived by many grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews. He was pre-deceased by his parents, George and Annie Bowen, Sr., sister Ola May Allison and brothers-in-law John and Elbert Wyatt.
A gathering of friends and family will take place Thursday, November 14, 2019 from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. at Harrell Funeral Home – Kyle, 1715 Kirby, Kyle, TX 78640. Funeral services will be held at 2:00 p.m. Friday, November 15, 2019 at Harrel Funeral Home – Kyle, with Rev. Jerry Lyons officiating. Burial will follow at Live Oak Cemetery, Manchaca, Texas.
