Good Bye William Michael Bowen, Gentle Soul
By Mike Kelly
Our long-time member, hike leader, and newsletter contributor, Will Bowen, died in June of last year. Take this date with a grain of salt as we were not able to track down an official death record. We have no details about his illness and death, only a few hints. Will was very private and when we saw each other, whether on a vernal pool walk or over dinner, the conversation was invariably about nature. The last we heard from Will was last year when he told us he wouldn’t be leading hikes for us during the next quarter. This happened a couple of years earlier when he took time off and had a hip replacement done, so we made a similar assumption about his hiatus this time and were wrong.
Will was born in January of 1960. We don’t know his earlier history, but do know he received his PhD from UC Riverside in Anthropology. When I first met him about 1991, he was still working on his dissertation. Looking back through our newsletters it looks his first hike was in 1991, his last March 17, 2024, a Carmel Mountain Vernal Pool walk. Typically, he did one a month, for a total of about 470 over the decades. Both Will and I shared a passion for vernal pools. He showed up for one of my vernal pool walks after his hip surgery, using his two walking sticks to get along. Carmel Mountain Preserve was his favorite place to lead a vernal pool walk.
By my count he led about 95 differently themed walks, from “new age” oriented walks to historical ones, such as his many to the old Lopez Homestead over the decades.
Will was also a prolific writer, contributing over two hundred articles to our newsletter, again on a wide variety of subjects. His anthropology background undoubtedly helped him research the history of the Lopez Homestead, unearthing the original grant deed for the property. Will had a deep appreciation for the Native American history and knowledge of our plants, animals, habitats, et al. From the beginning, decades before it was trendy, he was using Kumeyaay names as well as their common names in his plant articles.
This interest in history ran deep and beyond Peñasquitos Canyon. When I introduced him to Carroll and Soledad Canyons to see some of the oldest Coast live oaks around, he spotted an old building. Intrigued, he researched and identified it as the old Bovet Adobe, once home to a prominent San Diego family. It was in disrepair and being vandalized. He went to bat with the Save Our Heritage Organization and helped get some protective fencing for the property.
The Friends honored Will for his long-time contributions at our 40th Anniversary celebration last year.
Will didn’t have an easy life of it. He didn’t find employment in his chosen field and worked a variety of low paying jobs over the years, including occasional free-lance writing and pictures on local arts and cultural for outlets such as sdbews.com or Sandiegodowntownnews.com. He also taught TaiChi classes for several years.
