Date of Birth:
Friday, June 21, 1929
Date of Death:
Thursday, October 18, 2018
Age:
89 years old

Helen Claudia Stevens Gowan

Helen Claudia Stevens Gowan was born on June 21, 1929 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  She died on October 18, 2018 in Seattle, Washington.  She grew up in Minneapolis where she had many lifelong friends from high school, and graduated from the University of Minnesota.

After marrying, she and her husband, John S. Gowan, moved to Rochester, Minnesota to raise their family.  She was a volunteer librarian at St. John’s Grade School and St. Mary’s Hospital sharing her love of books with children and patients.  She later was a Mayo Clinic Volunteer at Desk R in the Charlton Building.  She was an accomplished cook having studied in the 1970s at Ecole de Cuisine La Varenne and Le Cordon Bleu in France, the L’Academie de Cuisine in Bethesda, Maryland and with Verna E. Meyer and Jacques Pepin in Minneapolis.  In the 1980s she was a chef and manager with the original Broadstreet Café in Rochester.  She spent her last years in Seattle near her eldest daughter.  She was known for her stylish fashion sense.  She was a voracious reader of newspapers, books and magazines, and loved small creatures and cooking for her family.

She is survived by her daughters, Claudia Gowan of Seattle, Sheila Gowan of New York, and Monica Gowan of Centennial, Colorado; her son-in-law, Wescott Peterson of Seattle; her sister, Lois Cartwright of Bloomington, Minnesota; and her brother Claude Stevens of Wayzata, Minnesota.

She was married for 50 years to John S. Gowan who predeceased her.

She was much loved and will be missed.

A gathering for friends and family was held in her honor in Seattle on October 20, 2018.  She will be buried at Fort Snelling National Cemetery in the spring.