Doc Bowen, governor of Indiana from 1973 – 1981, died on Saturday. Tom Davies, writing for the Associated Press has a good write up. His tenure was before my time, so I don’t have much to say about his tenure. According to his Wikipedia entry, he got his undergrad degree from IU in 1939 and his medical degree in 1942. He started his medical career with the Army during WWII and then practiced in Bremen until 1972. He served in the Indiana House of Representatives from 1956 – 1972 with a hiatus from 1958-1960. He lost a run for Governor in 1968 but won in 1972 and 1976. The 1976 win followed a change in the Indiana Constitution which permitted consecutive terms. He also served as the Secretary of Health and Human Services from 1985 – 1989.
He was a great soul. He truly had the interests of people at heart. Because the law of unintended consequences ALWAYS works, we should not criticize him in the least, even though some of his ideas have harmed those he had at heart.
RIP, Doc.
My mother worked in the Governor’s Office secretarial pool during virtually his entire term(s) in the ’70’s. RIP.