Richard Bowman-Brown

Richard Bowman-Brown died Tuesday, March 18, 2014, in his home, surrounded by his loving family. He was born April 14, 1952, in Los Angeles, Calif. He attended Northwest Christian College in Eugene, Ore., where he met Linda Bowman, the future mother of his children. He courted her in Juneau, Alaska, with a sailboat while she volunteered with the Jesuits. They were married in 1978. They worked together caring for developmentally disabled people in Helena.

In 1980 they had their first child, Emily, and in 1982 Alex was born. Despite Richard and Linda's loving relationship and closeness they divorced in 1985 because of Richard's homosexuality. Their divorce was possibly the most congenial divorce in history, and they remained best friends till the end.

Shortly after the divorce Richard met Kevin Lohn, the second love of his life. They lived together in Missoula where Richard pursued a master's degree in accounting. Eventually Linda and the children would join them in Missoula and they all lived together under the same roof, making for an unconventional loving family.

In 1995 Richard moved to Seattle where he worked in software design for many different companies, including Microsoft. He always loved computers and gadgets.

He also enjoyed boats, planes and trains. He was an avid backpacker in his youth and always enjoyed beautiful scenery. He was an incredible cook, albeit a messy one. He could make the best gravy and fried chicken. His talents included photography, beer drinking, and making depraved, dark jokes that could elicit tears of joy from your eyes. (If you weren't easily offended and shared in his unique sense of humor.) He will be greatly missed by his ex-wife Linda; daughter Emily; son Alex; sister Bonney; niece Sheila; nephews, Derrick and Darcy; his hound Hercules and myriad friends who all loved this unique soul dearly.

Richard was such a caring, loving, at times inappropriate, larger than life, funny as hell, engaged person. I'm so thankful that he was my daddy. Donations in his name can be made to Hospice of Missoula who were our compass during this difficult time, especially the nurse Cindy Peters and Chaplain Greg Grallo. Donations could also be made to the Interpreting Services of the University of Montana, who volunteered to help us communicate with his deaf sister.

A celebration of his life will be held on Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Orchard Gardens Barn.
Read Richard Bowman-Brown's Obituary and Guestbook on www.missoulafuneralhomes.com.