Raymond J. Bowie

Raymond J. Bowie (95) passed away on July 31, 2024. 

Raymond, fondly known as Ray, was born to John and Annie Bowie, on April 20, 1929 in Weymouth MA. He was preceded in death by Grace, his beloved wife of 71 years. He was Dad to his children Ray Jr. (now deceased), Linda and Paula. He was affectionately referred to as "Grampy" by his grandchildren Cheri, Angela, Aaron, Noel, Shannon and Mark, and as "PooPapi" by his great grandchildren Cal, Kendall, Colin, Skyler, Ash, Matthew, Daniel and Zoey. 

Though he and Grace raised their family in Somerville, they moved to Gilford NH where they spent close to 40 years living a joyful life. They made friends everywhere they went and never stopped supporting their children in so many ways. Their oldest child, Ray Jr, born with cerebral palsy who was eventually able to move out on his own, received unwavering support in all things necessary to support his independence. For the 66 years Ray Jr. lived, his dad would visit his son every week helping him with such mundane but necessary tasks that included bathing, grocery shopping, and bill keeping to name a few. He and Grace would also visit him almost every day that Ray Jr. was in the hospital, which were too numerous to keep track of over the course of those 66 years. Once they moved to NH these trips took close to 5 hours round trip and oftentimes there’d be many such trips in one week. Ray never complained. He saw these trips as the thing a parent does for their child in need and never wavered on this belief. During these years Ray also made sure his other children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren got lots of attention. He and Grace never missed family gatherings and held many at their home with family and friends over the years. During his first 50 or so years Ray was a master with his hands, building beautiful pieces of furniture and hooking strips of wool into rugs that adorned their home’s floors while laboring 6 days a week at his full time job as a master mechanic at Bowie Sunoco in Somerville. He never forgot the names of customers (and their license plate)! He was always the jokester, the one who had joke after joke at every gathering. He didn’t wear extra large shoes, but nonetheless they would be almost impossible to fill. Ray leaves family and friends with heartwarming memories. He will be greatly missed. 

A Celebration of Ray’s life will be held Saturday, September 14, 1:00pm at First United Methodist Church of Gilford-Laconia in Gilford NH.