Two Rivers Rotary Club 2764

Harry C. Gowran- Club President 1928-29

Email to Bob Gahl 5/15/03- Dear Sir, This email is sent in appreciation for your correction to my Great-Grandfather's name as former president of the the Two Rivers Rotary, District 6270-Club #2764. My name is Deborah J. Gowran-Lewis,and I am the third child out of seven children born to the grandson of Harry C. Gowran. David John Gowran (who emailed you first) is the fifth child born to the grandson of Harry C. Gowran. My brother and I communicate on a regular basis, but he never mentioned his writing to you. I discovered this purely by accident while surfing the internet (as I often do) to learn more of my ancestors. His description on the history of our family was most accurate, and as you probably can tell, we are very proud of our family heritage. We come from a long line of very talented, gifted, and intelligent men and women. My father, Harry C. Gowran, was also a gifted artist. Thanks to my brother David, I now hold several of my father's pieces of artwork that never sold, in my home. So, in closing it seems in my opinion, that the Two Rivers Rotary, takes great care in their choices of presidents. If any of those men who came before my grandfather or after in that position were anything like like him, you must take real pride in the town's club. Many, many thanks again for taking my brother's information and following through with the corrections. Regards, Deborah J. Gowran-Lewis
Email to Bob Gahl 9/29/02 Hello. My name is David John Gowran. I am writing to inform you of an error on your website, specifically at the following page: http://www.rotarytworivers.org/PastGov&Pres.html (no more, thanks David) My great-grandfather, HARRY C. GOWRAN, was Club President during the years of 1928-29. You have his name mistakenly listed as HENRY, instead of HARRY, which was his actual first name. Additionally, for informational purposes, HARRY, was his FULL first name -- it was not Harold. My great-grandfather is buried in Two Rivers. He was a former partner with Mr. Hamilton at the Hamilton-American Company. My great-grandfather built cabinetry and medical/dental office furniture and appliances. When Mr. Hamilton invented the gas dryer, he needed some way to house his mechanism. That is where my great-grandfather came into the picture. He built the cabinets for the gas dryers. They ended up in business together in Two Rivers, Wisconsin where the company was known as HAMILTON AMERICAN. They manufactured several other items besides the gas dryer and medical/dental office furniture and appliances. My father was named after my great-grandfather, HARRY CARL GOWRAN. My father died April 19, 1995 very suddenly and unexpectedly. He was 71 years old. In 1980 our entire family made a trip to Two Rivers, Wisconsin because my dad always wanted to go back to where he spent many summers as a child with his grandparents. We visited Hamilton Industries where a very large painting of my great-grandfather was hung in the main conference room. The employees at Hamilton were very friendly and receptive to us -- I'm sure our last name had something to do with that! They gave us a tour of the factory and we had a great time. It was not my intention to write such a long message, however, it is my hope that you will understand that what may appear to others to be a very minor error, means a lot to me. Could you be so kind as to make the correction at your website, listing my great-grandfather as HARRY C. GOWRAN instead of Henry C. Gowran? I would be most appreciative. Thank you for your time. Yours truly, DAVID J. GOWRAN
Email to Tom Finley 10/1/02-Hello Tom. Thank you so much for responding to my e-mail and making the change in my great-grandfather's name. It really made my day. You mentioned that your secretary has been unable to confirm the name, and in that regard, I would direct him to the website of the PIONEERS' REST CEMETERY (Two Rivers Township, Manitowoc County, Wisconsin). The cemetery has a complete list of burials listed in alphabetical order. To get to the list of last names that begins with the letter "G", go to this URL: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~tomanitowoc/89Ag.html#g and scroll down to the name GOWRAN. You will see my great-grandfather listed there with the correct name of HARRY C. GOWRAN. I will try now to answer a couple of the questions you posed to me in your e-mail message ---I currently reside in Southfield, Michigan, which is a suburb of Detroit. I work as a free-lance graphic artist, producing advertisements for magazines and other graphic-related items such as brochures. I am an accomplished pianist and serve as the Director of Music and Organist at Redeemer United Methodist Church in Harper Woods, Michigan. I have two brothers, Richard and James, and a sister, Kathleen. Richard is 39, I am 37, Jim is 36 and Katie is 30. I also have three half-siblings, Joseph E. Gowran, 57; Christine E. (Gowran) Daniel, 55; and Deborah J. (Gowran) Lewis, 49. My father, also HARRY C. GOWRAN, traveled all over the country for his job. It was in Detroit, Michigan that he met my mother and after eight months of dating her, married her in 1961. This was after a first marriage to a woman ended in divorce after she just walked out on him and their three children one day. Tired of all of the traveling, my father settled in Detroit and attended a protestant seminary in Pontiac Michigan -- Midwestern Bible College -- as he always felt he was called to the ministry. When I was about three years old, my father accepted a call to be a minister at a small church in Grand Rapids, Michigan -- Bethel Baptist Church. After serving at that church for four years, he accepted a position as minister at a much larger congregation located in Detroit, Michigan -- Parkside Baptist church. We moved back to Detroit, and it was at Parkside where he pastored for many years. By way of history, my father told us that HIS father's parents (Harry and Luella Gowran) had paid for their son (my Dad's father) to attend dental college. He never wanted to be a dentist and when he graduated, he decided to go into the radio business as he apparently was a born entertainer. He worked for CBS radio, traveling all over the eastern United States setting up affiliate stations. He was involved in the beginning of the Grand Ol' Opry and my father told me that his father (my grandfather -- who died before I was born) was responsible for the start in show business of several well-known (back then) people, including "Grandpa Jones" and "Minnie Pearl" of Hee-Haw fame. He told of many gatherings at their home where these people were guests. Unfortunately, my great-grandparents were less than thrilled that their son decided to take a different route than what they had planned for him, and in retaliation they completely wrote him out of their will, leaving their entire estate to my great-aunt, Dorothy Gowran-Evans. After our visit to Two Rivers in 1980, my father renewed contact with his Aunt Dorothy who told him that she always felt it was wrong that they wrote his father out of the will, and promised she would make up for that terrible error. We were never notified of Aunt Dorothy's death, nor were we given a copy of her will. Whether or not she really did "right the wrong" and leave some of the inheritance to my father, I probably will never know. Aunt Dorothy's daughter, Polly, would know, but we have no way of contacting her and she certainly didn't attempt to contact us. Last, but not least, I found your website by doing a search for "Gowran" at the search engine, "Google". I have attached my father's obituary as it appeared in the Detroit Free Press in 1995. This gives additional insight and history into our family. I apologize for yet another LONG e-mail message, but I hope it gives you some idea of our family history. Thank you for having the interest and taking the time to read my messages.
Yours truly, David J. Gowran

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Two Rivers Rotary Club • P.O. Box 272 • Two Rivers WI 54241-0272


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