BOWEN, WILLIAM RUSH,

83, died Thursday, March 20, 2008. Funeral: A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 9AM Monday at St. Francis Village Chapel where a vigil service will be held at 7:30PM Sunday. Memorials: Gifts in his memory may be made to St. Francis Village, 4070 Saint Francis Village Road, Crowley 76036. William Rush Bowen was born March 9, 1925, in Tulsa, Okla.

A graduate of Texas A&M University, he was a veteran of World War II and the Korean War and a member of the Teams of Our Lady.

He worked in the aerospace industry, serving as a finance manager for Martin Marietta and was awarded the Silver Snoopy Award from NASA astronauts for his work on the space shuttle.

Survivors: His wife, Martha Plemmons Bowen; daughters, Linda Bowen Burke, Margaret Ellen Bowen and Virginia Anne Bowen; sons, William Rush Bowen Jr., James Patrick Bowen and Neal Anthony Bowen; grandchildren, Jeremiah Bowen, Ellen Burke, Christy Burke, William Bowen and Giovanna Bowen and sister, Betty Zednick.