A Funeral

He would have been 78 today. I didn't really know Bobby Bowman, but Mom loved the jam-packed, adrenaline fueled basketball games stoked by the 90db roar of the crowd that would overtake the tiny Natoma Grade School Auditorium and I always tagged along. When Bobby was killed the community responded in kind and filled the gym to capacity like a game night. This time in silence. I'd just turned seven and had been to maybe one other funeral, but the strange silent throng left a lasting impression that was reinforced by the picture of Bobby that hung like a mini-shrine in the I.C. Bar forever afterward. Within two weeks of the service on 9/11/55 my family pulled up stakes in Natoma and moved to California. The events that took place exactly 46 years from the day we left made a lasting impression on the world.

   

Natoma-Luray Independent Sept. 1, 1955