Indian
Life founder goes home
RAPID
CITY, SD—On June 15, 2006, the founder of Indian
Life newspaper, went to meet his Creator and Savior.
Raymond Levi Gowan died at his home in Rapid City, SD,
after a short illness due to cancer. He was 92.
Mr.
Gowan founded Indian Life in 1968. Until almost the end
of his life, he was the newspaper’s foremost supporter
and distributor.
Born
in 1914 in Vandalia, Illinois, Mr. Gowan grew up in northern
Illinois where he attended elementary school. For four
years after he finished grade school, he stayed at home
to help his family, working on unproductive farms.
Gowan
later attended high school and Bible training at Boone
Biblical College (Boone, IA), Faith Home Bible School
(Mitchell, SD), and Tabor Bible School (Tabor, IA). The
Graduate School of Divinity in Indiana granted Gowan an
honorary doctorate in recognition of his work in pioneering
culturally relevant, easy-to-read literature for Native
Americans.
Gowan
married Marjorie Nelson on June 16, 1934. Soon after they
became the parents of Lois, David, Judi, and Stephen.
His wife died at age 50 and Raymond later married Marian
L. Shaw in 1966.
Mr.
Gowan became a follower of Jesus through the ministry
of Dr. Paul Rader, a worldwide radio evangelist. R.L.,
as he was fondly called, received his first preacher’s
license in 1934, and was assigned to his first pastorate
in northeastern South Dakota in 1937. He was ordained
to the ministry in 1940. Gowan served in six churches
in Arizona, Nebraska, and South Dakota, including 12 years
at the Little White Church in Hill City, SD. He was a
long-time member of the First Wesleyan Church of Rapid
City.
Mr.
Gowan served the Native American people for over 50 years,
largely through Christian literature and visitation to
reservations, jails, nursing homes, and hospitals. He
mailed out tons of free literature to First Nations people
across the U.S. and Canada.
During
his long ministry to Native peoples, Mr. Gowan started
several different publications including, Indian Life
and Hope , Native Times , NRG News ,
and, of course, Indian Life . He also started
and sold Four Winds Indian Books, which is a going business
in York, Nebraska.
Mr.
Gowan is also the author of seven books including his
memoirs “Missiles, Missions and Miracles,”
published in 2004.
Near
the end of his life, Mr. Gowan wrote these words: “As
I look back on my service years, my philosophy has largely
been that of the Good Samaritan. What is mine is only
mine to manage for a few short years. My skills, talents,
time, energy and money are only a trust. Now that my time
is about expired, my skills and talents are faltering,
my eyes are getting weak. I am pressing on in faith, for
“We have a house not made with hands, eternal in
the heavens.”
