Kenneth Wayne Bowie, 1949-2021
Kenneth Wayne Bowie, an International Mission Board missionary emeritus who shared the gospel among the American Affinity Peoples in Peru and Chile, died Jan. 27, 2021, at Huguley Hospital in Burleson, Texas. He was 71.
Bowie was born Nov. 22, 1949, in Holton, Kansas, to the late Earl and Melva Tosh Bowie. He grew up in McLouth, Kansas, and graduated from McLouth High School in 1967. After high school, he received the Bachelor of Science, Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy in international agricultural/community development from Kansas State University, Manhattan. Bowie began a vocational agriculture program in 1972 at Burden (Kansas) High School.
He married Linda Orton in 1970 in Topeka, Kansas. Each had already felt God calling them to missions.
Ken and Linda served in Peru as Southern Baptist missionary journeymen from 1974 to 1976 and then were appointed as career agricultural missionaries to Peru in 1979. According to his family he loved working with the farmers in the Andes area of Cajamarca helping them with crops, livestock, potable water wells and irrigation canals with the goal of helping them know Jesus personally and have the assurance of eternal life for those who believed.
In 2003, the Bowies transferred to Ovalle, Chile, where they served until retirement in 2013. Since then, Ken has remained active in mission work in Peru and Cuba, working with Tom Cox World Ministries. In July 2020, his family said, he was able to send personal protective equipment to Peru, where Covid-19 was spreading quickly, and hospital workers needed it desperately.
Ken is survived by his wife of 50 years, Linda, of Crowley, Texas; daughters, Marci Wessel (David) of McKinney, Texas, Melissa Baize (Justin) of Fort Worth, Texas, and Lori Aebischer (Chad) of Burleson; brothers, Gary Bowie of Austin, Texas, Keith Bowie (Debra) of Jennings, Kansas, and Dennis Bowie (Penny) of Lawrence, Kansas; and eight grandchildren.
A memorial service was held Feb. 3 at Travis Avenue Baptist Church, Fort Worth, with burial following in Burleson Cemetery.
Read an obituary here.