Blaine M. Bowland, 90, of Warrensburg, Missouri, died Sunday, June 28.

Funeral services will be held 2 p.m. Friday, July 3, at Northside Christian Church with the Rev. Sid Tiller officiating. Interment will follow at Sunset Hill Cemetery with military graveside honors provided by Veterans of Foreign Wars, Post 2513, and American Legion, Post 131. Pallbearers will be Chad Bowland, Brian Bowland, Ryley Matthews, Mike Fox, Jerald Bowland and Brad Hartbauer.

The family will receive friends and family from 6-8 p.m. Thursday at Williams Funeral Chapel in Warrensburg.

He was born Aug. 15, 1924, in Savannah, Missouri, the son of Merritt and Mary (Brower) Bowland.

Blaine married Margaret Catherine Huffman on Sept. 15, 1948, and they were married for 66 years. Blaine graduated from Savannah High School in 1943 followed by his daughter and numerous nieces and nephews.

He joined the U.S. Army where he learned invaluable skills and became a contractor in St. Joseph. In the early years, he built standard homes in the St. Joseph area. Throughout his career he built more than 200 homes and started two subdivisions. He also attended Hillyards Technical Center in St. Joseph to further his training in new home techniques and construction methods. He was an apprentice with Doubledee and Sons in St. Joseph. In 1966, he transferred his business to Warrensburg where he built numerous new homes. He worked with many local firms in the Warrensburg area.

He took many young carpenters and electricians under his wing and helped them with their career in construction and carpentry skills. He educated himself to become a licensed electrician. He worked on finishing concrete flat work and running his own business in foundation work, rough-in crews. He also trained and worked with his two sons. For the span of 40 years his businesses went from Bowland Construction, Bowland Foundations, Bowland Electric, Bowland Builders, and Bowland and Sons. Blaine’’s son, Craig, and his sons, Chad and Brian, have followed him into the construction business and continue to carry on the tradition in home building and remodeling.

During his retirement, he enjoyed traveling, owning and enjoying his personal old cars and tractors, and working in his shop making crafts. He kept active by walking and participating in organized 3-mile walks. He was talkative, happy, joyful, cooperative and hospitable and always chattered of the old times; but with the onset of Alzheimer’s he could not remember building those houses, painting, or repairing different jobs. He has always talked about the farm he left and the family that went before him. Alzheimer’s took a big part of his life and his family’’s life.

He is survived by his wife, Margaret, of the home. They have three children in the Warrensburg area; daughter, Linda (Bowland) Strait, and husband, Larry Strait; son, Floyd, and wife, Becky Bowland; son, Craig, and wife, Karen Bowland, all of Warrensburg; and grandchildren, Chad Bowland, Ryley and Brooke Matthews, Brian and Ashley Bowland, Cindy and Cale Bowland. The love of his life was his great grandchildren, Audrey, Blaine, Blake, Easton, Zoe, Declan, Matthew and Caley. He also leaves behind numerous nieces and nephews on both sides of the family. He is preceded in death by two brothers, Lowell and Donald, and his parents.

He was a member of the Methodist Church of Savannah and Northside Christian Church in Warrensburg.

 

Memorial contributions may be made to the Alzheimer’s Foundation, alzfdn.org, or to the Northside Christian Church, of Warrensburg.

Online condolences may be left at www.williamsfuneralchapel.net.