Johnny Allen Cowan

Johnny Allen Cowan was born on 5/10/41 in Kansas City, KS to his dad, William John Cowan, and his mother, Mary Evelyn Murphy. He passed away peacefully in the apartment he shared with his wife Marlene in Grand Junction, CO. He is survived by his wife Marlene Cowan, and by his last living sibling, Bonnie (Cowan) Parsons, and by his daughters Shelly (Dave), and Laura (Scott) and by adult stepchildren Sheri and Patrick. He’s also survived by Laura’s kids Mitchell, Kendra, Garrett (Julia), Bryce and a great-granddaughter Valerie, and by Sheri’s daughter Krystle and her kids Heavenly, Christian, Liam and Maliyah. He’s also survived by in-laws, and many nieces & nephews, etc. on both sides of their family.

Johnny was the youngest boy of 7 siblings, 5 girls and 2 boys. He spent his younger years growing up in Kansas City, KS. His Dad was gone a lot, working 3 jobs to support his large family, so Johnny started working at one of his dad’s places of employment to be closer to his dad. He started making pretty good money as a kid too.

He had a great mind for math, and a great mechanical mind on how things work. He joined the military early, at age 17, and served in the Navy, during non-war time from 1958 – 1962. He served as an airplane mechanic on aircraft carriers. He really enjoyed his time away from Kansas and stationed in San Diego, CA.

He went back home, after his time in the service, and started working at Deluxe Check Printers as a pressman. He had a knack for fixing presses and soon moved into fixing them more full-time, as well as doing various things around the shop. He got transferred with Deluxe Check Printers in ’71 and was moved to Denver, CO.

Dad enjoyed hunting earlier in his life, then later fishing trips, and many weekends spent up in the mountains camping all over Colorado. His 5th wheel had a slide out at one point, and as he was sitting in his La-Z-boy chair he was heard jokingly saying “now this is roughing it!” Dad taught his girls to fish, and a favorite thing of the family was to spend a week each summer fishing at Granby Lake, renting the same pontoon boat every summer and bringing in & eating lots of fish, and playing card games in the evenings. Dad also enjoyed showing his family & friends around Colorado, and taking them for a drive or camping, when relatives or good friends came into town for a visit.

Dad met & married the love of his life, Marlene (Marlena) on 3/22/86 and they were just shy of celebrating 40 years together. Just before they met, Dad had become a well-known press mechanic in the United States. He had just been transferred to Rohnert Park, CA to better serve demand for his skills in the West, Southwest & Northwest. A friend that worked with him fixed him up with Marlene. They quickly fell in love and got married. Family was very important to Marlene, and she wanted to be married in front of her family in CA. She was from in Petaluma. Dad was about to be transferred back to Denver, CO again. His job was still to fix check printing presses. Back in Denver, Dad had to travel from Monday – Friday, so he eventually quit the mechanic job to have a more normal life with his new bride. At that time, he went back to doing plant maintenance, etc. Marlene eventually found a job in check printing too, and they worked together for many years.

Later in life, with retirement on the horizon, they decided to buy a home to retire to in Parachute, CO on the Western Slope of Colorado. Eventually they moved to the Grand Junction, CO area which also allowed Dad to be closer to the local VA Hospital for healthcare.

Johnny & Marlene were always excellent hosts to their family, and good friends to their neighbors, having folks over or taking meals to them. No one seemed to be a stranger. They drove neighbors’ places who couldn’t drive, helped move some, helped others fix stuff, helped bring in trash cans, enjoyed talking about all kinds of topics with their neighbors, played lots of cards and sometimes had afternoon “Happy Hours” where they’d serve appetizers and have drinks. Their door was always open, and their hospitality was always generous, friendly, loving & caring. Even to the end, Dad was still concerned whether you had enough to eat or if you needed something to drink. They also loved eating out. Dad especially loved sweets too. He stayed true to that even requesting Dairy Queen on one of his last evenings.

Most people would describe Dad as “happy go lucky” and most people that met & knew him, absolutely loved him as did his children and grandchildren.

Johnny & Marlene also attended First Christian Church in Grand Junction, CO. They made many friends there and really enjoyed fellowshipping there. He was raised Southern Baptist and God, and attending church, were important to him.