January 8, 1980, By Michael Gunsaulus, Courier-Post staff writer
When he wasn’t fighting fires John Bowen was fighting for firemen.
The lifelong Hannibal resident takes pride in both accomplishments. For two decades Bowen extinguished blazes in the city of Hannibal. But of equal importance, in Bowen’s opinion, is the state legislation he helped propose which gave fellow firemen more rights and higher salaries.
The stories of the big blazes he fought are colorful and exciting. Equally important although less adventurous - are the stories of his battles with elected officials who often overlooked the needs of firemen.
The success Bowen achieved in both areas was recently remembered when Gov. Joe Teasdale named Nov. 13, 1979 “John Bowen Day” throughout Missouri.
“It was a complete surprise, says the 56-year-old Bowen. A dinner was held in Jefferson City with the state’s highest elected and appointed officials attending. “When I found out they had taken me to the dinner, I just bawled like a baby. I couldn’t even make my speech,” the husky man says.
On that day he remembered moments from his career. Like the time he rescued Carolyn Waelder from the cliffs of Lover’s Leap in 1959. The young girl had fallen from the observation area halfway down the side of the cliff. Or the day he carried the burnt bodies of 7-month old Susanne Peiter and her 2-year-old sister Jewell Lee out of a blazing farm house on the outskirts of town. “I sat on the back of my truck and cried that day,” he recalls.
In addition to the emotionally trying times, Bowen worked 84 hours a week and received a paycheck of $154 a month. That was in 1948 when he first joined the Hannibal Fire Department. He is especially proud of the legislation he helped propose to reduce the number of worked hours from 84 to the present 56.
For 20 years - 1958 to 1978 - Bowen served on the executive board of Missouri Firefighters, the last six years as president. During that time, Bowen visited just about every town in Missouri talking with local officials on behalf of firemen.
The firemen’s pension program also was suggested by Bowen who told legislators it could be funded with a one cent sales tax. Passage of his proposal brought Missouri firefighters $400.00 in pension benefits the first year.
“My dad was a union representative and he gave me the idea that it’s good to have organized representation,” Bowen says. Even though unions were and still are favored in the Bowen family, the firefighter found that many of the city councils and mayors were uncooperative and inattentive to the need for legislation. “The usual reaction from the council and the mayor is that you’re an enemy,” he said. He believes this is the reason Kansas City is currently having such a difficult time with its firefighters.
“There is a lack of communication,” Bowen says.
He adds that the better wages a city can offer its firemen, the better firemen they will have. However, Bowen says, he does not believe firemen should strike. “Firemen should never resort to a strike as means of wager,” he says. “A true firemen wants to help others.”
Bowen notes that more firemen are killed in the line of duty than any other profession. He believes the pay scale should be equal to the danger.
Although retired from the Hannibal Fire Department, Bowen is currently working as a state fire inspector. He travels more than 3,000 miles a month, through 28 counties, inspecting nursing homes, schools, homes for the mentally retarded, and other such institutions.
And his own advice that firemen should always consider the needs of others first is something he has lived up to, according to the proclamation, which states, “For his continued efforts for firefighters when most had given up. And for over 20 years, service and dedication to the Missouri State Council of Firefighters, it would be impossible to cite all the many, many times this man has responded to protect life and property. Some of those times being routine, while other times heroic efforts were made that John and other firefighters respond to by saying ‘I was just doing my job’.”
