Kenneth A. McCowan, 88, died Nov. 8 in Salina, Kan. where he had recently gone to stay with family. He was born Sept. 6, 1922 in the Bronx, N.Y., and lived there until joining the U.S. Army following the start of WWII. Prior to the war, he attended Juilliard School of Music in New York City. During the war he served for the Army Air Corps in the European Theater as a radio repairman on the B-17 Flying Fortress and the Consolidated B-24 Liberator bombers.
On June 23, 1945 he married Louise E. Fuller in New Rochelle, N.Y. Following the war, he attended and graduated from Gordon College and Gordon Divinity School in Boston and Wenham, Mass. He graduated from Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, Penn. in 1952 with a Masters of Theology degree. For the next 16 years he served as the senior pastor of churches in Boston, Mass. and Skowhegan. From 1968-1987 he taught history and Bible to high school students at Lexington Christian Academy in Lexington, Mass., and served 13 churches in the Boston area as an interim pastor. Upon his retirement in 1987, he moved to Westport Island. During the next 22 years, he served as the pastor of the North Woolwich Methodist Church, Westport Baptist Church, and with people from the Westport Baptist Church he helped plant Grace Community Church.
He was a man who deeply loved Jesus, his wife and family, and the many high school students and adults in whose lives he invested himself in his 58 years of ministry.
He was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Louise; daughter, Ruth McCowan Gomez; grandson, John Gomez; and son-in-law, Peter Thorpe.
Survivors include daughters, Lois (David) Kwantz of Wiscasset and Martha Thorpe of Ayer, Mass.; son, David (Venessa) McCowan of Salina, Kan.; six grandchildren; two step-grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.
Memorial service celebrating Ken’s life, faith and ministry 2 p.m., Sun., Jan. 2 at the First Congregational Church in Wiscasset.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent in memory of Ken McCowan to Lexington Christian Academy, 48 Bartlett Ave., Lexington, MA 02420.
