Donald E Cowing

DRESDEN -- Dr. Donald Earl Cowing, 76, died Thursday, Nov. 20, 2003, at MaineGeneral Rehabilitation, Gray Birch, in Augusta.

He was born July 9, 1927, in Mount Clemens, Mich., the son of Earl Bixby Cowing of Meredith, N.H., and Elsie Viola Woodward Cowing of Dresden, and attended public schools in Roseville, Mich.

He received his undergraduate degree from Wayne State University in 1951, his master's in clinical psychology from Wayne State University in 1959, and an educational doctorate in special education from Wayne State University in 1968.

Discharged from the Navy as a combat veteran following World War II, he served for many years in the Air Force Reserve before retiring with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He subsequently served for many years as a staff sergeant with the Maine National Guard in Bangor.

Dr. Cowing was a teacher, school psychologist and special education administrator in suburban Detroit school systems, and he served as an adjunct faculty member at several Michigan colleges before going to Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J., to establish a graduate program in special education in the late 1960s. He was a faculty member of Bowdoin College in the early 1970s, after which he worked for U.S. Veterans Affairs at Togus as a psychologist at the Medical Surgical Hospital, a position he held until he retired.

He enjoyed spending time at his camp on China Lake and was an accomplished woodworker. Those who knew him understood that his greatest enjoyment came from time spent with friends and family, especially his grandchildren, and maintaining and living in his ancestral home in Dresden. He held memberships in the American Legion and the Masonic Lodge in Dresden; and he was a member of St. Philips Church in Wiscasset as well as numerous professional organizations.

He was married to Betty Lou Boughton in 1948, and they raised a family of five children. In 1978 he married Betty Mayo of Oakland. In addition to his wife and stepson, Chris Mayo of Sidney, survivors include his sons, Donald Cowing Jr. and his wife, Karren, of Georgetown, David and his wife, Judith Stafford, of Woolwich, and Daniel of Dresden; as well as daughters Pamela Cowing Freeman and her husband, Woody, of Wiscasset, and Beth Cowing Sawyer and her husband, John, of Topsham; and his nephew, Tim Cowing and wife, Kristen, who lived with him in Dresden. He is also survived by a dozen grandchildren and his two brothers and their wives, Kendall and Della Cowing of Charlotte, N.C., and Joe and Donna Cowing of Dresden; his nephew, Joe Woodward Cowing and his wife, Kelley who also reside in Dresden, Maine, as well as a large extended family that summers in Dresden.

A memorial service will be held 11 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 29, at St. Philips Church, Wiscasset.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to St. Philips Church. Funds received will be used to assist families in need in the local community as a memorial to Dr. Cowing's generous spirit and lifelong commitment to helping others.

Arrangements are under the care of Staples Funeral Home, 53 Brunswick Ave., Gardiner.