The funeral for Robert Lester Bowman will be 10 a.m. Monday at the Bishop Funeral Chapel with interment at Olney Cemetery. Bowman, 82, of Pendleton, died Tuesday, Oct. 20, 1987, in a tractor roll-over accident at his farm near Pendleton.
A lifelong Pendleton resident, he was born on May 9, 1905 to Oliver P. and Evalina Stickler Bowman. He was raised and educated in Pendleton. On Feb. 26, 1925 he married Goldie Marie Emery in Pendleton. He moved with his family to the now old O. P. Bowman place in February 1942 after making his living cutting wood for 10 years to support his family. He loved the mountains of Eastern Oregon and was an avid fisherman and hunter.
Survivors include sons, Tilden of Meacham and Duane of Pendleton; daughters Leona Burr of Bend and Helen Coles of Tigard; a sister, Leona Moser of Pendleton; 15 grandchildren and 18 great grandchildren. His wife died in 1984 and a son, Purl (O.P.), died in 1974.
Article about the accident:
An 82-year-old Pendleton man was found dead Tuesday morning [October 20, 1987] under a D-4 caterpillar tractor on Tutuilla Creek, three miles south of Pendleton. He had apparently been dead since Monday. The overturned tractor and the body of Robert L. Bowman were found about 10:45 a.m. Tuesday by a pheasant hunter who had stopped to ask permission to hunt.
Sheriff Jim Carey said a part-time farm worker was unable to locate Bowman or the tractor Monday. It appeared, Carey said, that Bowman had been leveling a barnyard by dropping the blade and backing up with the caterpillar. The caterpillar apparently went through a fence and over a 10-foot drop-off, then turned over on Bowman, Carey said.
Carey said Bowman lived alone at the original O. P. Bowman Place.
Contributed by: Shelli Steedman