Steven Gowin, 82, of Hazen, ND passed away Friday, May 13, 2022. Services will be held at 10:00 AM CDT on Monday, June 20, 2022 at Peace Lutheran Church, Hazen with Pastor Mark Martin officiating.

Steven Minor Gowin was born in Minot North Dakota on May 27th, 1939, to Harold M. Gowin and Ruby Locke Gowin.  He grew up on the family farm near Glenburn, North Dakota, attended a country school and graduated in 1957 from Glenburn High School.  After high school at the age of 19 years, he hitchhiked through Mexico, Central America, and ended up in Peru and Brazil in South America where he rode on a tour boat on the Amazon River.  After this adventure, he returned to the farm at Glenburn, North Dakota and then went on a trip to India for more adventure and hunting.  While there he visited a Glenburn neighbor Elizabeth Walton who was a nurse serving as a missionary in a leprosy hospital.  In 1961 US President John F. Kennedy started the Peace Corps.  Steve applied to serve and was sent to Brazil as a member of the first Peace Corps group to serve in Brazil where he served for two years in the northeastern part of Brazil working with farmers and 4-H (known in Brazil as 4-S) boys and girls.

After he returned, he met Verna L. Thompson and they married on December 11th, 1965, in Belfield, North Dakota.  They have two children, son Thomas Gowin (Rebecca Knutson) and daughter Jeanne Gowin Karalus (Chris Karalus).  Grandchildren are John, Olivia, and Sophia Gowin and Calvin and Roger Karalus.

Steve and Verna lived and farmed in Crosby, ND, and Roseau, MN. From 1974 to 1976 he was stationed with the US Army in San Antonio Texas at Fort Sam, Houston.  After Army service he and his family moved to Hazen North Dakota in 1976.  He worked for 19 years for Montana Dakota Utilities at the Coyote Station coal fired power plant in Beulah, ND.  After retirement, he and Verna went on several trips to Hawaii, eastern Europe, and Africa.  He also hunted big game in Alaska, Africa, and eastern Russia.  Steve had many interests and hobbies including photography, landscaping, house and barn building, snow removal and dirt work with a skid steer loader, flying a powered parachute, motorcycle trips including a trip through Mexico and Central America with son Tom in 1990, and helping friends and neighbors.

Steve is survived by his wife Verna, two children, five grandchildren, three sisters Aileen Carl, Myrna Mayer, and Gail Proffit.  

He was preceded in death by his parents, and one sister Alice Stewart.

All unspecified memorials will be donated to the Peace Corps Global Fund  ( https://www.peacecorps.gov/donate/global-fund-spf-gbl/ ) in memory of Steven Gowin.

Arrangements are conducted by Barbot Funeral Home, Beulah and Hazen.