Longtime St. Joseph High School music educator Dennis Bowen has died. He was the Director of Choral Activities for St. Joseph Public Schools beginning in 1960 and is remembered by generations of students who were mentored by him. Among them is the St. Joseph Public Schools Foundation’s Bob Ehrenberg, who met Bowen in 1969. He tells us he walked into Bowen’s classroom and asked to be part of the choir program, and from then on, the two were friends. Ehrenberg says Bowen continued teaching at St. Joe until 1987.
“First of all, he loved his kids,” Ehrenberg said. “He loved music, he loved creating and directing musicals and presenting the annual variety show, called Showtime. He actually wrote the theme song for Showtime along with longtime band director Bob Brown.”
We asked what Bowen was like as a teacher.
“He ran a very strict classroom, but made it fun all of the time as well,” Ehrenberg said. “He had devoted kids who would be at attention the second he asked them to. He made choral music and theater fun for all of us, and so many people from his classes have gone on to do great things for fine arts.”
After retirement, Bowen worked with former students on four Encore performances with the most recent being last August. Ehrenberg says he always encountered students who remembered him fondly.
“He was an icon at St. Joseph High School. Everybody remembered his productions and the things he did as head of the choral department.”
After retiring from teaching, Bowen worked with volunteers at Spectrum Health Lakeland and the Area Agency on Aging. He also served as the secretary of the St. Joseph Public Schools Foundation. Bowen had been ill for a few weeks before passing. His funeral will be at First Congregational Church on Saturday, February 25 at 1 p.m. Visitation will be Friday, February 24 from 5 to 7 at Starks & Menchinger Chapel in St. Joseph.
Tributes to Bowen are all over social media as former students and friends remember him.
