Gary Bowers

Gary Bowers, age 80 of Cherokee passed away Saturday, December 30, 2023, at the Heartland Care Center in Marcus, IA. Memorial services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, January 6, 2024, at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Cherokee. Father Dan Rupp will officiate. The burial will take place at a later date. Visitation with family present will be held from 5:00-7:00 p.m. Friday night at the Greenwood-Schubert Funeral Home in Cherokee. There will be a prayer service and rosary following visitation at the funeral home.

Clyde Gary Bowers, son of Clyde J. Bowers and Johann Jones was born on August 28th, 1943, in Norfolk, VA. He graduated from Fort Dodge High School in 1961 and Drake University in 1965.

On June 22nd of 1963, Gary married Barbara Ann Brasser at Immaculate Conception Church in Cherokee, IA. Together, they welcomed their two children, Brad and Elizabeth. During this past year Gary was excited to be able to celebrate his 60th wedding anniversary and 80th Birthday with family and friends.

Gary worked for 21 years as the General Manager of Bowers Ford and later went on to own and operate his own business, Bowers Agency for more than 30 years. He specialized in real-estate and insurance as well as was a notary signing agent. In this line of work, he enjoyed meeting and helping many people in the community to own their homes and insurance.

Gary was heavily involved in his community. Gary participated and/or led many groups including Jaycees, Kiwanis, Knights of Columbus, Rotary, Chamber of Commerce, Co-chair for Ragbrai, Opportunity Cherokee, Cultural Committee that provides translated Spanish information for Cherokee newcomers, and Ducks Unlimited. Gary was on several of Cherokee’s County Committees including the Employment Compensation Board, Eminent Domain Board, and Assessor’s Selection Committee. He was an active member at Immaculate Conception Church and was on the Financial Committee, was a Trustee, a Lector, an Usher, and a Eucharistic Minister.

Gary loved the outdoors and enjoyed hunting, fishing, biking, skiing and field trialing his labradors. Gary coached Little League and he enjoyed college sports, especially all things Iowa Hawkeyes, as well as the College World Series, March Madness, and cheering on the Cherokee Braves.

Gary played a big role in many people’s lives, whether it was lending a hand to help someone with a broken car or to take in someone in need. It did not matter who you were or what you had done in life, at the end of the day you always knew that you had a friend in Gary. Although Gary was a man of few words, he always made sure that those around him knew his opinion.

Out of all the names he was known by, his favorite had to have been Pop or Poppy, the name his 3 grandchildren so lovingly gifted him with. His biggest joy in life was his family, whether it was watching Sarah figure skate, Korin dance, or Sean perform with his drum corp, he enjoyed every minute of it. Outside of his biological family, he was gifted a ‘bonus daughter’ as he called her. Rena Frangenberg came into his life as a teenager and later in life she became a care giver for Gary.

Gary passed away on December 30th of 2023 at the Heartland Care Center in Marcus, IA where he was surrounded and cared for by his loving nurses, aids, and family. He was preceded in death by his parents, Clyde and Johann Bowers, and sister Donna Jo Bowers.

Gary will be remembered by Barbara, his loving wife who feels blessed to have been able to enjoy many great years and accomplishments together, his two children, Brad (Dena) Bowers of Old Orchard Beach, ME, and Elizabeth Anderegg of Mason City, IA; grandchildren, Sean (Samantha) Bowers, Korin Bowers, and Sarah Anderegg; nieces and nephew, Theresa Larsen, Tahnya (Martin) Hursch and Jesse Kelleher, as well as other relatives and many, many friends.