The end of Bowman's

After Bowman's contract with Meadowbrook was bought out, Bowman's pretty much closed shop. I know that Fred and Grandpa Joe were probably old enough to retire and that is likely why everything came to an end.

After Bowman's, my Dad did a very small catering deal out of our home. He would bring lunches to a company on a daily basis, and do some side big events like weddings or parties for small corporate events.

Almost every morning on our way home from Seminary my sister and I would stop at this little bakery (which is no longer there) and pick up our Dad's bread order. It was mostly sub rolls so he could make subs for the lunches he brought to a company. One of the benefits for my sister's and me was that he would make us a sub. Yum! It had all the fixings on it. He had the packets of mayo and mustard that we could put on just before we ate it. I loved this! He also had some kind of cold salad he had made the night before. I loved his pasta, and red skin potato salads. He made the best tuna salad too, with chunks of onion with mayo and lots of dill. Sooooooooo good!

I remember the night before any lunch deliveries, he would have one of us do cookie duty. The Otis Spunkmeyer cookie ovens were down stairs and the frozen cookie doughs were in the down stairs deep freezer. He would have a list of how many of what type of cookie he needed. Once the cookies were done baking we would take out and tap the baking sheet on the table and it would slightly flatten them. We would slip the parchment filled cookie sheet off and re-line baking sheet with a new parchment and fill up and start over until we were done. The best part was we could have a frozen cookie dough.

I got to help with some of the bigger events he did. Like the Christmas parties for the "lunch" company, company picnics and some weddings.

It was always a joy for me the day before and day of the event. Our home would have smells of meats roasting, fancy salads being cooked, baked beans, cookies. My Dad would have his big check list posted up on the same cupboard door every time. When he was done he promptly crossed off.

He had these huge cooking pots to cook with. I don't think he ever really measured anything. He would just throw stuff in and then taste here and there until it tasted wonderful. When the hot food was done it would get transferred to a big pan that fit into the hot boxes and then get wrapped in aluminum foil and stuck in the hot boxes so they could stay hot. The cold foods were usually prepped the day before and kept in the refrigerator.


Then the hustle and bustle of loading everything up into the van came. We would prop open the front door and the van was loaded in no time. You learned to not get in the way, and found the rhythm of the flow.


At the events, we typically wore white shirts with black slacks. Sometimes a red bow tie. The chefs wore a white apron with a white chefs hat. They tended to the meat and grills.

At the end of the evening my legs would be so exhausted but we all knew if we all helped we could get done quicker.

My Dad continued to do this work I think for almost 8 years after Bowman's closed, until he went into the corporate world and has done food service this way for I think about 7 years.

For me the lessons I learned from my Dad all those years are priceless. I look back at the times when it was just my Dad and I traveling to and from an event and him singing silly songs like "Looking at the world through fly's eye's", "IIIIIIII Like" or us singing "Cumalata Feesta" together.

We would talk and he asked me questions and then listen. It was a great opportunity for me to figure out all the great qualities my Dad had and know what characteristics I wanted in my future Husband.

I know my parents were and are not perfect, but I sure am grateful for all that they taught me, whether it was spoken, by example or through the experiences they exposed me to that enabled me to be able to make choices on my own to help me figure out who I am and what I wanted to be and where I wanted to go.