Later James Madison Cox moved his family to Round Timbers, Texas, and the young couple kept in touch with frequent visits.  Claud Franklin Gowen moved to Ft. Worth to enroll in Draughon's Business College, but "business" at home was uppermost in his mind, and he returned to Woodson for the purpose of asking for the hand of Ora Ethel Cox in marriage.  To her dismay her family was planning a move to Oklahoma at that time.  The groom's timing was opportune.

And so they were married July 4, 1911--in the vogue of the time, seated in a buggy at the front gate of the home of George H. Holley, the bride's uncle.  The mar-riage was performed by another uncle, Asbury Frost Thurman, according to Throckmorton County Marriage Book 1, page 213.  Asbury Frost Thurman baptized her shortly before their marriage.  It is to her credit that all of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren and their spouses were members of the Church of Christ.

Claud Franklin Gowen, son of Jeremiah B. Nunley Gowen and Emma Catherine Bailey Hawkins Gowen, was born October 19, 1887 in Red River County, Texas.  He attended school at Milford, Texas and at Pancake community school in Coryell County, Texas.  He appeared as a 12-year-old in the 1900 census of Coryell County living in his father's household.  He was orphaned at the age of 16 upon the death of both of his parents in 1904.

At that time he and his younger sister, Minnie May Gowen moved to make their home with their brother-in-law, James Harvey Lee.  From the sale of the property of their parents' property $900 had been realized.  James Harvey Lee invested this inheritance for them in farmland in Throckmorton County.

On November 5, 1905 "C. F. Gowen, J. H. Lee et al" had received a deed from D. S. Mc- Donald to 480 acres of land, according to Throckmorton County Deed Book 15, page 13. Total consideration was $3,960 at seven dollars per acre.  Claud Franklin Gowen operated the farm to support his sister and himself, and they continued to make their home with James Harvey Lee.

The young couple settled down to a farming life at Woodson surrounded by a large number of relatives.  On November 21, 1911 Claud Franklin Gowen received a deed from S. J. Kelley to 160 acres of land, according to Throckmorton County Deed Book 20, page 264.  Their first son, Stanley Olgee "Jot" Gowen, was born there the following year on August 25, 1912.

Three years later Claud Franklin Gowen was influenced by his "itchy-footed" father-in-law to move to New Mexico to homestead free land in a new country.  In the summer of 1916 the Cox and Gowen families loaded their possessions onto wagons and headed westward.  Twenty-one days were consumed in making the trip from Woodson to Bluewater, New Mexico as the party followed the wagonroad from watering point to watering point.  The caravan passed through Post, Brownfield and Seminole, Texas and Hope, Tatum, Lovington, Dunken and Weed, New Mexico.

The wagontrain moved slowly with cows, horses, chickens and turkeys.  Ora Ethel Cox Gowen recalled that when they made camp on the trail at sundown they hobbled the horses and cows to graze around the camp, but turned the chickens and turkeys "scot free."  At dark the poultry wandered back into camp and one-by-one flew up to roost in their cages on the back of the wagon--the only home they knew on the then-empty expanse of West Texas and Eastern New Mexico.

When the caravan arrived at Bluewater in Lincoln County at the residence of a Cox cousin, Arch Van Winkle, Claud Franklin Gowen admired the cold, blue flow of his spring.  Upon his return for a visit 40 years later he noted that the spring still flowed, cold and blue.

Claud Franklin Gowen, along with his father-in-law and a brother-in-law filed homestead claims on adjoining tracts on McDonald Flat--a high-altitude plateau located a short distance from Weed.  They petitioned the Postmaster General for a post office and were instrumental in the establishment of Stellsworth, New Mexico, named in honor of Stella Worth, the first postmistress.

When his father-in-law was killed in a gunfight November 4, 1916 additional responsibility settled upon Claud Franklin Gowen.  He reported that his little group of settlers, with many hardships, wrested their homes "from the mountain, the State of New Mexico and the federal government."  He recalled their life in New Mexico included a lot of "privation, make-do and barter."

While the men bartered their labor at a little mountain sawmill for lumber to build their homes, the women transported it by wagon-and-team up to McDonald Flat.  The long uphill climb with a wagonload of lumber was difficult for the team and difficult for the pioneering women.  Going uphill they frequently had to alight and walk along with their horses, alternately pushing and encouraging their teams.  Going downhill was a different story.  They had to set the brake, tie a fallen tree to the rear of the wagon for additional braking power, put the team in a trot with a tight rein, and "let the devil take the hindermost," according to Ora Ethel Cox Gowen.

The group supplemented their income from their meager crops with work in lumber camps, on adjoining ranches, in a gypsum plant, in apple orchards, on cotton-picking forays back into Texas or "anything else that would turn an honest dollar."  To assist each other, members of the little community gave freely of their time in log-rolling, barn-raising, quilting and nursing the sick.

On a cold December night in 1918 Ora Ethel Cox Gowen and her mother were sitting up with Margaret C. Cox Drennan who was critically ill.  When they left for home, a short distance away, at midnight they discovered that a six-inch snowfall had covered the trail and familiar landmarks.  They became disoriented and wandered for hours across the pine-covered mesa, frequently stumbling upon herds of startled cattle.  Finally a light appeared in the window of "Grandma Cantrell's cabin," and from it they got their bearings again, arriving at home in time to fix breakfast for their families.

Names of the early settlers on McDonald Flat appeared in a column entitled "High Mountain Tales" carried in the August 19, 1983 edition of the "Alamogordo Daily News":

" On the fun side of things --did you have any idea there was once a neat little town nestled in the MacDonald Flat area? Yep! The name of the town was Stelworth. Maxine Key, a child in the years of 1913?1923 recalls the good times in that town and some of the families that lived there. There was a post office, a school and church.  Miss Knowles, then Mrs. Van Winkle, Artie Hickson, and Elsie Scroggins were teachers there during those years.

Maxine said that with the help of many friends and relatives she was able to round up names of folks who lived there. Her family was Alexander Stephens Key, her father and mother, sisters and brothers, Richard, Marian, Doris, Lex and Malcolm. George Key lived there, also, his wife, Emma and their three sons, Albin, Clarence and Cecil. Others were William and Jane Allen and children, Jimmy, Dilla, Pearl and Oliver, Walter McCleskey and his wife, Alphie Trammel, and their children; Bernard, Melbourne, Josie Pearl and Alton, lived there. Kid and Anna Reed bought the place.

 There was a large family of Drennans there. Dick  Drennan and wife, Sue Haynes and children, Fred, Earl, Virgil, Jim and Ethel. R.E. Chalk worked there helping the Keys with their crops. A doctor Shields came there about 1920. Nora Cox and her mother [Amanda Lucinda "Cindy" McCall Cox lived there along with Elmer and Avie.

The Claud Gowens, the Smiths and a Rodney and a Floyd were there.  Their children were Braxton, Ernest, Coy, Vivian, and Edna. Tom Drennan was a neighbor and had Bessie and Lena. At one time there were five families of Drennans on McDonald Flat.

There was a Scottish family named McRae with a son, J.A., and a daughter, Virginia, and a daughter, Wanda.  Mrs. McRae was an artist and served hot rolls to the neighbors and kiddos who stopped by for a visit. The McRaes built fences and outbuildings with rock.

Alec Key recalls others who lived on McDonald Flat or near Weed: Alvie Cox, A.J. Fisher the fiddler, Ed Watts, Nelson Jones on down the Penasco, Nelson Jones, Richard and Maggie Watts, Joy, Prathers, Emmet Potters, Buckskin Jernigan on the way to Pinon, Bill Porter, Austin Reeves down on the Penasco, Longbothams, Jack Wasson and a family named Snow. Ad Madlock's family lived on McDonald Flat and also his mother. Homer and Lilly Barclay with sons Cyril and Charles lived there and Arthur and Elsie Strang. The Strangs were there during 1913 and 1923. They had a large family.

There were school picnics, church picnics, pie suppers and baseball games. Thank you Maxine for all the data you got for me on Stelworth that you could gather. It's neat to look into history."

In August 1920 they completed the required four years of tenancy and received title, free and clear, to 160 acres on a "sawed-off mountaintop."  They promptly sold their homestead and loaded for a return trip to Texas.  Ora Ethel Cox Gowen and her widowed mother, Amanda Lucinda "Cindy" McCall Cox were the teamsters on the two wagons.  Claud Franklin Gowen, riding "Ole Bill," and Stanley Olgee "Jot" Gowen riding his burro, acting as drovers, herded the livestock before them.

The livestock, grazing and watering as they moved, made slower progress than the faster-moving wagons.  The wagons moved along the trail from windmill to windmill, spring to spring, with their wagonsheets billowing out like sails in the southwesterly breeze.  When no landmark could be found on the monotonous prairie the groups rendezvoused with the wagon of Amanda Lucinda "Cindy" McCall Cox at nightfall.  Frequently she found it necessary to light a lantern and place it on the end of an elevated wagon-tongue to guide the others to the campsite.

After another 21 days on the trail they arrived in O'Donnell, Texas.  In continuing rainstorms in the summer of 1920 Claud Franklin Gowen inspected land in Lynn and Dawson counties, selecting a quarter-section of ranch land at $27.50 per acre in the eastern part of Dawson County in the McCarty community.  Fifty-seven years later the land sold for $1,000 per acre.  He moved his family to the site and erected a tent to protect them from the continuing rainy weather.

The family was a beehive of activity in the remainder of the year.  Up went a wind- mill, a watering tank for the livestock was dug out, a barn was erected and a chickenhouse was built.  Virgin sod was turned, a "short crop" was put in, and then thoughts were turned to a residence.

In September 1920 Amanda Lucinda "Cindy" McCall Cox moved to Swenson, Texas to make her home with her son, Willie Elmer Cox, but on November 24, 1922, the date of the birth of her grandson, Arlee Claud Gowen, she returned to the household of Claud Franklin Gowen where she made her home for the next 40 years.

The life led by the Gowen family on their new farm was typical of that of many of the settlers of the area.  Both the men and the women worked in the field.  Cardboard "splints" reinforced the bonnets the women wore during field work with the strings bowtied under their chins.  Long black stockings with the feet cut out were worn over their arms to prevent freckling and tanning under the merciless West Texas sun.

The cool water from the windmill served as the milk cooler.  Watermelons floated in the concrete horsetrough to cool in the summertime.  Pork was preserved in the "salt- box" on the back porch.  An orchard was put in, and peaches were halved and dried on the tin roof of the "car-shed."  On cold winter days the family shelled popcorn around the fire and drew straws to see who would have to go out into the cold and snow to winnow the grain before making popcorn balls.

The boys had plenty of pasture to hunt in with Dean Ranch adjoining.  Two dogs, "Jiggs," a collie and "Tippy," a rat terrier, were busy chasing rabbits and killing rattlesnakes on the hunts.  With barbed wire "twisters" the boys twisted rabbits and prairie dogs out of their burrows.

Sunday was church-going.  Night services were attended after the advent of the auto- mobile reduced the seven-mile trip to a matter of a 20-minute drive to Lamesa.  On cold winter nights the mother heated bricks and wrapped them in towels for climbing into a cold sedan or a cold bed.  No telephones--the early-day line always seemed to be grounded out on a barbed wire fence anyway.

Thunderstorms and sandstorms were frequent--with an occasional cyclone.  When a high wind came up it was necessary to cut off the windmill to prevent the fan from running away and tearing up.  Sometimes the storm broke without warning, and the farmer had to risk the dangerous job of climbing to the top of the tower and avoiding the whirling blades while manually turning the spinning wheel away from the wind so that the cut-off might be engaged.

About 1925 Claud Franklin Gowen was baptized into the Church of Christ in a stocktank located on the courthouse square in Lamesa.

In the fall of 1925 the family with a lot of excitement installed a radio, the first in the community, and the Gowen livingroom was filled with visiting neighbors anxious to try out the new-fangled gadget.  In 1927 Claud Franklin Gowen bought a new Ford sedan, and quite a few sprained wrists and near-misses on broken bones resulted from hand-cranking the new machine.  In the fall of 1929 Claud Franklin Gowen took a contract as a rural mail carrier on Star Route 2 out of Lamesa, and the sedan began to show the results of traversing "60 miles of bad road" six days a week.

In 1929 Claud Franklin Gowen moved his family to a 10-acre tract adjoining the city limits of Lamesa on the east.  In 1940 the family purchased a two-story apartment house built in 1909 at 3l0 South Bryan Street which became its residence for the next 12 years.  During World War II the apartment house was filled to overflowing with workers from the local U. S. Army Air Corps glider training base. During this period Claud Franklin Gowen was a circulation representative of the "Ft. Worth Star-Telegram."

He purchased a quarter-section farm in adjoining Martin County from J. I. Matthews January 15, 1944 for $4,400, according to Martin County Deed Book 51, page 99.

In 1952 Claud Franklin Gowen moved his household to Lubbock, Texas to be nearer to the families of his sons who had earlier settled there.  For the next five years, in a period of retirement, he busied himself with great attention to his four grandchildren, with churchwork and with supervision of three farms which he owned in Dawson and Hockley County, Texas.

Like many of his forebears Claud Franklin Gowen was soft-spoken, of a gentle nature, fond of teasing and pranks, considerate of his loved-ones, particularly his younger sister, Minnie May Gowen Shipley.  He was unknown ever to have made an enemy and had a deep religious conviction.

Claud Franklin Gowen, like his father, was very active in churchwork.  He was appointed a deacon in 1927 and an elder in 1932 in the Church of Christ at Lamesa.  Shortly after his arrival in Lubbock he was made an elder in College Avenue Church of Christ, an office in which he served diligently until his death January 13, 1957 at age 69.  His last words, spoken as he lay near death on a Sunday evening were, "It's about time to go . . . to church."

On October 1, 1976 Ora Ethel Cox Gowen sold her home and lived with a cousin, Leona Maye Mullen Lamirand in Lubbock.  Two years later she removed to Lamesa where she was living in September 1981.  In 1982 she returned to Lubbock and again lived with the Lamirands.  In the summer of 1986 she suffered a broken hip in a fall and died October 9, 1986.  She was buried beside her husband in City of Lubbock Cemetery.

Two sons were born to Claud Franklin Gowen and Ora Ethel Cox Gowen (C2/10.1):

 Stanley Olgee "Jot" Gowen born August 25, 1912
 Arlee Claud Gowen   born November 24, 1922

Stanley Olgee "Jot" Gowen, son of Claud Franklin Gowen and Ora Ethel Cox Gowen, was born at Woodson August 25, 1912.  He and his cousin, Olgee Perry McCall, were namesakes of Olgee Shofner, prize-fighter of Florence, Texas.

Early in his life he was subjected to the vicissitudes and hardships of his pioneering family.  At the age of three he was carried on the wagontrail to New Mexico, sometimes on horseback with his father and sometimes jostling along in a bumpy wagon.

On the trip he fell out of the wagonseat on one particularly hard jolt, and before his mother could stop the wagon she felt the heavily loaded vehicle lurch as a wheel rolled over the body of her child.  Expecting to find him crushed to death she wept tears of relief to find his only injuries to be broken ribs and a broken arm.

While in New Mexico Stanley Olgee "Jot" Gowen adopted an obstreperous burro who became his constant companion on boyhood hunting trips on McDonald Flat near Weed.  When the family returned to Texas he rode his burro "every jump of the way" for 21 days, as he reported it.

He attended grade school at McCarty community and was graduated from Lamesa High School in 1929, at the beginning of the depression.  The next ten years he was primarily concerned with trucking and construction work.  In his trucks he hauled cattle, oil, gasoline, cotton, grain, tomatoes, sand and gravel--and even a Negro baseball team.  In his travels around West Texas he met Madella Jean Beach, a clerk at Woolworth's in Plainview, Texas and immediately labeled her his "million dollar baby."
 
In California, under the alias of Francis O'Rourke, he helped to build the All-American Aquaduct carrying water through the Imperial Valley to Los Angeles.  In California during the depression the state government made a stringent effort to prevent Texans and Okies from filling jobs that they preferred to go to California residents.  Consequently Californian Francis O'Rourke, recently deceased, went back to work  In Arizona he worked on the construction of Salt River Dam and Morman Flat Dam.

On July 3, 1936 Stanley Olgee "Jot" Gowen and Madella Jean Beach, daughter of Toombs Hamilton Beach and Julia Ann Eggleston Beach of Plainview, were married in Phoenix, Arizona.  She was born March 3, 1911.  Toombs Hamilton Beach was born in Homer, Louisiana June 10, 1866 and died in Lubbock July 18, 1950.  Julia Ann Eggleston Beach was born in Whitesboro, Texas August 15, 1873 and died in Lubbock February 23, 1956.

For the next three years Stanley Olgee "Jot" Gowen and Madella Jean Beach Gowen made their home in Arizona and California, moving to various construction jobs.  In 1939 the couple returned to Texas, living first at Lipan, Texas and later at Ralls, Texas.  In the following year they moved to Plainview where Stanley Olgee "Jot" Gowen established a wholesale oil business.  In 1940 he moved Gowen Oil Company to Lubbock.

With the advent of World War II and the accompanying shortages and rationing he sold his business and went to work for John Toles, Magnolia Oil Company consignee in Lub- bock.  In 1947 he moved to the management of Continental Oil Company's distributorship and was employed by J. A. Fortenberry.  In 1955 he purchased the company's wholesale outlet in Lubbock and became the consignee.

On December 5, 1953 he and his entire family were baptized into the Church of Christ by M. Novel Young and became members of the Broadway congregation.  In 1968 he was appointed a deacon there.

In 1958 he was elected a commissioner of Lubbock County Water Conservation District where he assisted in the administration of Buffalo Springs Lake recreation project.

About 1967 he incorporated his business under the tradestyle of "JOT, Inc."  He died of cancer at age 57, February 22, 1970, and was buried in a plot adjoining his father in Lubbock City Cemetery.  Madella Jean Beach Gowen continued to make her home in Lubbock in 1993.

Two children were born to them:

 Sharon Ann Gowen  born July 28, 1941
 Michael Olgee Gowen born December 9, 1943

Sharon Ann Gowen, daughter of Stanley Olgee "Jot" Gowen and Madella Jean Beach Gowen, was born in Lubbock July 28, 1941, according to Lubbock County Birth Book 10, page 295.  She attended Lubbock Public Schools, Abilene Christian College and Texas Tech University.

On July 2, 1960 she was married to Lee Everett Towns, son of Dudley Carl Towns and Clara Pillow Towns, according to Lubbock County Marriage Book 27, page 113.  Dudley Carl Towns, a native of Bienville, Louisiana, and Clara Pillow Towns observed their 60th wedding anniversary in September 1981, a few days before his death on September 22, 1981.

Lee Everett Towns became associated with his father-in-law in the wholesale oil business, and upon the death of Stanley Olgee "Jot" Gowen became the owner of the firm.  In September 1981 he continued to operate the firm in Lubbock.  In 1993 he was employed by Compushare, a data processing firm.

Three children born to Lee Everett Towns and Sharon Ann Gowen Towns:

 Tod Everett Towns born May 22, 1962
 Jill Ann Towns  born January 13, 1965
 Kent Barkley Towns born March 29, 1969

Tod Everett Towns, son of Lee Everett Towns and Sharon Ann Gowen Towns, was born in Lubbock May 22, 1962.  In September 1984 he was a student at Abilene Christian University.  He was married August 10, 1985 to Melany Ann Ayres, daughter of Ralph Ayres and Bonnie Ayres of Belton, Texas.  In 1988 and in 1993 he was employed in the advertising department of the "Lubbock Avalanche-Journal."  She was a teacher.

Children born to them include:

 Kayla Elaine Towns  born August 20, 1989
 Braden Scott Towns  born September 16, 1991

Jill Ann Towns, daughter of Lee Everett Towns and Sharon Ann Gowen Towns, was born in Lubbock January 13, 1965.  In September 1983 she was a student at Abilene Christian University.  In 1988 she lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico and was in a travel agency school.  In 1989 she was employed by a travel agency in Houston.  In 1993 she had returned to Albuquerque where she managed an art gallery for her uncle, Michael Olgee Gowen.

Kent Barkley Towns, son of Lee Everett Towns and Sharon Ann Gowen Towns, was born in Lubbock March 19, 1969.  In 1984 he was pursuing a hobby of data processing on a computer which he purchased with earnings from his newspaper route.  He was graduated from Lubbock Christian High School in May 1987.  In 1988 he was enrolled in Texas Tech University and was employed by Compushare.  He was graduated with a B.S. in Computer Science in December 1991 and  continued with the firm.

Michael Olgee Gowen, son of Stanley Olgee "Jot" Gowen and Madella Jean Beach Gowen, was born December 9, 1943 in Lubbock.  Lubbock County Birth Book 16, page 33 records his birthdate as December 11, 1943.

He attended Lubbock public schools and was graduated from high school in Lubbock. Later he attended Allen Military Academy, Bryan, Texas.  In 1963 he attended Lubbock Christian College where he met his future bride, Martha Lynn Copeland.  In 1963 and and 1964 he was employed in the family wholesale oil business.

Michael Olgee Gowen was married March 28, 1964 to Martha Lynn Copeland of Tulia, Texas.  In 1966 he became co-owner and manager of J&M Marine, and Martha Lynn Copeland Gowen was employed by Ralston-Purina Company.  In 1973 he was an automobile salesman in Lubbock.

About that time the two became active in painting and sculpting and became very successful in that endeavor.  In 1978 they moved to Cloudcroft, New Mexico and established an art studio, "The Mountain Man."  In December 1985 they continued to make their home in New Mexico.  In 1986 they moved to Albuquerque where they remained in 1988.  In 1993 they operated four art galleries there.

An article describing their art galleries appeared in the May 3, 1991 edition of the "Albuquerque Journal:"

Gallery Deals Only With Friends
By Tom Sanchez
Journal Staff Writer

The art pieces displayed in the three galleries of Gowen Arts of New Mexico in Old Town Albuquerque almost come to life as Mike Gowen talks about the 34 sculptors and 100 artists who have created them.

"The artists we represent in our shops are our friends, not our competitors," he says. "And we extend that friendship to our customers, because attached to every piece of art we sell, we tag information of the artist on it.

"My wife and I know the people well who place their work with us. We have a lot of respect for them as persons as well as artists."   One of them, Teri Sodd, will be the focus of an open house from 5 to 10 p.m. today at Gowen's gallery at Plaza Hacienda.

"She favors depicting the Plains Indian tribes and will be joined by Navajo sculptor Leslie Pablo, who will be at our Patio Market store," he says. "On Saturday and Sunday, both artists will demonstrate their work in our galleries from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. as part of the 'Month of Sculpture--New Mexico.' "

The project is sponsored by the City of Albuquerque's Public Art Program, and Gowen will feature a different sculpture demonstration throughout the month.   On Sunday, Gowen Arts will present "Sculpture Magnifico" in all three of his locations. The works of Leslie Pablo, Mike Gowen, Ernest Polar, Ken Dewey and Greg Gowen (the Gowens' son), will be featured.

Glenn Hoyle is the in?house artist at Gowen's studio gallery, at 1919 Old Town Road NW. His wildlife portraits in watercolor and pencil will be displayed this weekend as he demonstrates his work for the public.

Mike and Martha Gowen traveled across the country for more than 20 years before they acquired their galleries. He was a West Texas metal sculptor and she was a painter, and they sold their pieces at arts and crafts, world fairs and civic plazas. In 1977, the couple left Lubbock for Cloudcroft N.M., where they lived and continued to "show what we made" in arts and crafts shows.

In 1985 they moved to Albuquerque and leased a shop in Old Town, where Gowen Gallery began. Now the wholesale accounts of their three galleries go beyond the Southwest, to places as far as Scotland, Japan, England and Germany.

Gowen remembers that his first show in Old Town was filled only with the welded sculptures he created from bronze, brass and copper and with the story?teller dolls that Martha painted. Then artists' works from Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Colorado and Mexico were added to the gallery's collection.
Now the Gowen galleries look more like aesthetic shrines than mere art shops. Surrounded by traditional Southwest?style paintings, sculpture, rugs, pottery, handmade clothes and furniture, Mike still sculpts metal, and Martha still paints.
"Indian artifacts are particularly in demand since the movie 'Dances with Wolves' made its mark," he says. "But generally, people who visit our galleries are individuals who have fun spending money ... especially when they can buy original  or limited editions at reasonable prices."

Two sons were born to Michael Olgee Gowen and Martha Lynn Copeland Gowen:

 Michael Stanley Gowen born March 6, 1965
 Gregory Kyle Gowen  born September 19, 1968

Michael Stanley Gowen, son of Michael Olgee Gowen and Martha Lynn Copeland Gowen, was born March 6, 1965 in Lubbock.  He was graduated as valedictorian from Cloudcroft, New Mexico High School in May 1983 and enrolled in September 1983 as a student in data processing in New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico.

He was married in 1986 to Sandra Kadle, daughter of John Perry Kadle and Joyce Ann McCurry Kadle.  John Perry Kadle was born February 26, 1941 to John Perry Kadle.  Joyce Ann McCurry Kadle was born February 13, 1944 to William M. McCurry and Ovada McCurry.

In January 1987 he was employed by IBM Corporation in Austin, Texas.  In August 1987 they returned to New Mexico State University.  Following graduation with honors with a B.S. degree May 7, 1988, they again returned to Austin and to IBM robotics research.  Continuing with IBM in 1993, he lived in Georgetown, Texas.

Children born to Michael Stanley Gowen and Sandra Kadle Gowen include:

 Shannon Renae Gowen   born August 31, 1987
 Shelby Erin Gowen   born November 18, 1989
 Sadie Taryn Gowen   born February 21, 1991

Shannon Renae Gowen, daughter of Michael Stanley Gowen and Sandra Kadle Gowen, was born August 31, 1987 in Las Cruces, weighing six pounds, one ounce at birth.

Gregory Kyle Gowen, son of Michael Olgee Gowen and Martha Lynn Copeland Gowen, was born September 19, 1968 in Lubbock, Texas.  He attended school in Lubbock, Cloudcroft and Albuquerque.  In 1985 he lived with his parents in Albuquerque.  He was married there August 15, 1987 to Tammy Reagor, daughter of Wayne A. Reagor, Jr. and Stella Flores Reagor at the home of his parents.  Wayne A. Reagor, Jr. was the son of Wayne A. Reagor, Sr. and Frances Reagor.  Stella Flores Reagor was the daughter of Jesus Flores and Mollie Flores.  In 1993 they continued in Albuquerque where he operated an art gallery.

Children born to Gregory Kyle Gowen and Tammy Reagor Gowen include:

 Jordan Mykle Gowen  born March 16, 1990
 Gregory Kyle Gowen II  born May 3, 1991