Don Jerry Bowman

Don Jerry Bowman, of Webster Groves, Mo., was born on Feb. 22, 1935 in Dodge City, Kan., and died peacefully on Dec. 8 at Mercy Hospital St. Louis in Creve Coeur, Mo. He was 89. He was the son of Paul M. and Edna L. Bowman of St. Louis and the brother of Sue Bowman of Webster Groves, Mo.

Jerry grew up in the St. Louis area attending Third Baptist Church on North Grand Boulevard, watching the St. Louis Browns through the outfield fence at Sportsman’s Park and playing youth baseball at Sublette Park. He graduated from Kirkwood High School in 1953, where he played football. In 1957 he graduated from William Jewell College (Mo.), earning a bachelor’s degree in economics.

After a three-year stint in the U.S. Army, where he learned how to use computers, he worked at IBM in Milwaukee and then Minneapolis. He then became a vice president of Comserv Corp. before co-founding Fourth Shift, both of which developed software used in manufacturing. He retired in 1992 and split his time living on a golf course in Fort Myers, Fla., and on a lake in Webster, Wisc. To be closer to family, he moved back to St. Louis in 2018, living in Webster Groves.

Jerry was a devout Christian and a member of Greentree Community Church in Kirkwood. He had many hobbies. He was a private airplane pilot and loved golfing, riding his Harley-Davidson, fishing, hunting, cowboy shooting, skiing on water or snow, and riding his snowmobile.

He was preceded in death by his wife Barbara Jean in 1993 and his siblings Paula Sandford, Stanley Bowman and Norman Lee Bowman.

He also leaves four children: Phil Bowman (Kathy) of Chaska, Minn., Steve Bowman (Toni) of Brentwood, Mo., David Bowman (Julie) of Ballwin, Mo., and Carrie Sciammas (Clement) of Barcelona, Spain.

Besides his four children, Jerry is survived by his 12 grandchildren: Ariel Sciammas, Bram Sciammas and Addie Sciammas of Seattle; Brianna Bowman and Eli Sciammas of Chicago; Nicole Bowman and Tyler Bowman of Minneapolis; and Joshua Bowman, Jared Bowman, Elijah Bowman, Paul Bowman and Keith Bowman of St. Louis.

Jerry will be interred next to his beloved wife Barbara Jean at Dawn Valley Cemetery in Eden Prairie, Minn. His family will hold a private funeral service there in the coming months.