Barbara Louise Cowen (nee White), Feb. 16, 1951- May 11, 2023, died after a brief but brave battle with ovarian cancer. Barbara was born in Great Bend, Kan. to William A. and Ruth L. White. She attended GBHS, graduating in 1969. After graduating from Brown Mackey business school, she worked as an executive secretary at Central Kansas Medical Center from 1971-1972 where she met and later married Richard I. Cowen. Barbara and Richard lived in Georgia and Massachusetts while working for Data General before returning to Great Bend to start a family in 1976. In 1988, Barbara moved to Vermont with her husband and daughter, followed by a move to Massachusetts in 2000. In 2018 Barbara and her husband retired to Rhode Island.
Barbara was stylish and athletic. In her younger years, she loved riding her motorcycle and her beloved turquoise ’65 Mustang, bowling on a league with her friends, waterskiing and boating with family, and was an avid walker. Barbara’s nimble hands were equally at home in front of the typewriter and the sewing machine. In addition to being a talented seamstress and baker, she excelled at nearly every craft she taught herself to do.
She is remembered fondly by her family, friends and former colleagues as compassionate, kind and self-sacrificing, but also conversely as exacting and no nonsense. But Barbara had a keen sense of humor and enjoyed a good prank - perhaps gained from the experience of having grown up with three younger brothers.
After devoting herself to raising her daughter and caring for family members, Barbara enjoyed her later years living by the New England coast. She had a soft spot for animals and aside from spoiling her grand-kitties, knitting, antique shopping, listening to Neil Diamond and Barbara Streisand records, the scent of peonies, salt air and saltwater taffy were a few of her favorite things.
After having known her for only a few weeks, several members of her medical team wrote that Barbara was a brave and lovely person. And like her family that came before her, she was also stubborn, strong and clear-eyed. For everyone that may remember them, Barbara was a lot like her homemade chocolate chip cookies, firm on the outside, melty on the inside and beautiful all the way through.
Barbara is survived by her husband, Richard; their daughter, Heather; her three brothers, Steven White and his wife Linda, Gary White and his wife Michelle, Craig White and his wife Cindy; all of her nieces and nephews, Kristoffer White, Chad White, Dianna White, Deborah White, Darren White, Trina White and Kyle White; and by her many cousins, including Jeff Schneweis, Kirk Schneweis and Carla Gonzales and their spouses and children. Services will be private. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the American Cancer Society or charity of your choice.
Funeral arrangements provided by
Connors Funeral Home
55 West Main Rd
Portsmouth, RI.
Great Bend (Kan.) Tribune, June 22, 2023
