Kathleen Bowman Dies; Radio Host And Attorney

Most people have their hands full with one career.

But KUOW (94.9 FM) radio host Kathleen Bowman indulged three.

A skilled attorney, she gave that up to direct housing programs for the homeless for Catholic Community Services-King County.

Four years later, having helped establish Noel House women's shelter, Aloha Inn transitional housing and other projects, she became a reporter, then host of KUOW's "Weekend Edition." She also co-hosted "In Between" segments on KCTS-TV.

She did it all within little more than a dozen years.

Miss Bowman died Thursday (Feb. 26) of ovarian cancer. She was 36.

"She was also quite a writer and a great conversationalist," said her close friend and KUOW colleague, Bill Radke. "She heard some `Fresh Air' interviews, then just followed her heart and thought she had some interesting things to bring to broadcast journalism."

Miss Bowman, a skier and cyclist, simply loved National Public Radio so much she wanted to be part of it, said KUOW colleague Ruby de Luna.

"She was a positive, positive influence in the newsroom," de Luna said. "We'd be in news meetings and dive into it and talk and talk about minutiae and details. After that there would be silence. Then Kathleen, who would have been listening and processing all that information, would edit it with such clarity, such amazing perspective. She could give the big picture."

Miss Bowman participated joyfully in Front Porch Forum, the joint public-journalism project of The Seattle Times, KCTS-TV and National Public Radio stations KUOW-FM and KPLU-FM.

"As we muddled through the first couple of years of trying to figure out what `public journalism' was and how to do it, Kathleen helped push us forward, in her gentle but challenging style," said David Boardman, The Times' assistant managing editor for projects and investigations.

Born at Langley Air Force Base, Va., where her father was stationed, she graduated in 1978 from Great Falls (Mont.) High School, where she was a swim-team member and student-body president.

She earned a bachelor's degree in American studies in 1981 at Stanford University and a law degree in 1984 at UCLA. After working for Seattle law firms for five years, she began working on behalf of the homeless.

As co-director of Catholic Community Services' special ministries division, she was responsible for most of the agency's shelters and housing in the Seattle area.

"The woman was trained as a lawyer and made a good living as a lawyer, but she always thought, `What are my unique gifts to the world?' " said Radke.

Survivors include her mother, Delores Bowman of Mukilteo; sisters Patricia Bowman of Seattle, Roberta Denning of Greenwich, Conn., Teresa Gilberg of Natchitoches, La., and Barbara Wagner of Dallas; and brothers Timothy Bowman of Mukilteo and James Bowman of Brier.

Mass will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday at St. James Cathedral, Ninth Avenue and Marion Street, Seattle.

Remembrances may go to Homelessness Programs of the Special Ministries Division, Archdiocesan Housing Authority, 1901 Second Ave., Seattle, WA 98101; or to the Gilda Radner Familial Ovarian Cancer Registry, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY 14263.