I love looking at these pictures of my father playing music with friends. It makes me happy to see that he had so many neat hobbies he occupied his time with. He was really blessed to have a big family and a great group of friends in his life. It was obvious by how many people attended my father’s funeral that he was loved by many. But, I love and miss him the most. I lost my Dad.
As a daughter who cares about what happened to my father, I can’t help but notice in these pictures that my father has inflammation in his face and neck much like I did when my body was fighting off inflammation too. I noticed how young (and well) he looked in a 1991 video my Uncle Mike shared with me and it startled me because I remembered seeing these wedding pictures where I can tell things changed in his body. And the inflammation in his neck becomes very obvious to me in some pictures he took in St. Augustine, Florida in 1992. He subsequently had surgery to remove a lump in his neck in 1995 and by 1998, he was diagnosed with throat cancer. In 1999, the cancer metastasized into terminal bone cancer and they gave him six months to live.
This could have been prevented… and my father wanted to sue the medical professionals who failed him but in the end decided he needed whatever energy he had left to heal and spend time with his family. He needed to keep stress levels down to keep inflammation and pain at bay.
Related Links:
William R. Stowell Memorial Site on Instagram
William R. Stowell Graduated Third Honors from Gould Academy in Bethel, Maine (1962)
William R. Stowell Graduated from the University of Maine Orono with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering (1968)
William R. Stowell Designed Railroad Crossing on Nuclear Carrying Rail for Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California (1985)
William “Billy” Stowell Playing Guitar with a Local Band on Mollyockett Day in Bethel, Maine – Video by Mike Stowell (1991)
William R. Stowell Takes Pictures of First Snowfall at Home in West Bethel, Maine (1992)
“My Last Visit with Bill” by Peter Stowell (2001)
Jennifer and Lee 