James Alfred Bowles, 81, most recently residing in Arvada, Colo., a former professor at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (UWSP) and Polonia resident, died Monday, Dec. 3, 2012.
A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 15, at Wide Horizon in Wheat Ridge, Colo.
Dr. Bowles was born in 1931 in Arvada, Colo., a son of the late Alfred B. and Francis K. Bowles. He grew up in a log cabin on a ranch near Phippsburg and a home in Wheat Ridge, Colo. He graduated from Wheat Ridge High School and Colorado State University, majoring in animal husbandry and agronomy.
He was married to Mary Owen Hitch in 1954.
After college, he served in the Air Force as a first lieutenant and was stationed in Korea.
He worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Soil Conservation Service for seven years as a soil scientist while living in Basin and Worland, Wyo. He then obtained a doctorate at the University of Wyoming in Laramie in 1967.
He was hired as a professor at UWSP in what became the College of Natural Resources. He served an initial three-year term as acting chair, and continued teaching until his retirement in 1990.
He and his wife lived on farm in Polonia until 2003, when they moved back to Colorado.
After retiring he volunteered at the Arvada Center and also drove a bus for the elderly and Meals on Wheels.
Survivors include his wife; three sons, Jim, John and Ed; two daughters, Virginia and Deb; one brother, Bob; and 12 grandchildren.
He was also preceded in death by one daughter, Cathy, in 1992.
