Richard "Rick" Allen Rowan

Richard Allen Rowan, age 80, passed away on January 21, 2025 from heart disease at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte NC. Rick was born November 17, 1944 in Altoona, PA, the youngest child of Richard Matthew Rowan and Helen Genevieve (Isenberg) Rowan. He is survived by his wife Vicki Brown Rowan of Denver, NC; his son James Richard (Rebecca) Rowan of Chapin, SC; his sister Eleanor (David) Fiol of Penny Farm, FL; his brother James Wendell (Faye) Rowan of Wilmington, DE; and two granddaughters. 
He was predeceased by his parents. 

Rick grew up in Williamsburg, PA and Baltimore, MD. He attended Dundalk Senior High School where he was in the school band and on the tennis team. After graduation he attended one year at Covenant College in St Louis, MO where he sang in the chorale. In 1962 he received an appointment to the United States Air Force Academy where he was on the varsity soccer team and in the Academy chorale. He graduated with the USAFA class of 1967.

Following graduation from pilot training at Webb AFB in Big Spring, TX and combat aircrew training at Bergstrom AFB in Austin, TX, Rick served from 1969 to 1970 at Tan Son Nhut AB, Republic of Vietnam, where he flew low level photo and visual reconnaissance missions as an RF-4C Phantom II aircraft commander. He went on to serve at Kadena AB, Okinawa, flying the Phantom; as an instructor pilot at Shaw AFB, SC and Bergstrom AFB, TX; as an Air Force ROTC instructor at East Carolina University in Greenville, NC; and in northern Germany alongside our NATO allies. 

While stationed at Shaw AFB, Sumter, SC, Rick met the love of his life, Vicki Brown, who at the time was a high school mathematics teacher. They married in 1975 and together had many wonderful experiences through the remainder of Rick’s Air Force career and afterward. Rick retired from the Air Force in 1987 at the rank of Major having been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and 10 Air Medals for combat missions, the Meritorious Service Medal and several other decorations, and having logged over 2,000 hours in the RF-4C. That same year Vicki graduated from the University of Texas School of Law at Austin.

Following Air Force retirement Rick and Vicki settled in Charlotte, NC and later, on Lake Norman, NC. Rick worked as a corporate manager in the power generation industry before his second retirement in 2002. In 2009 he joined the Civil Air Patrol and participated in search and rescue and disaster relief missions in North Carolina and Virginia, attaining the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. In 2014 Rick became a yoga and mindfulness teacher working with veterans at VA medical facilities, VSOs and teaching classes for the Denver, NC community. His hobby was sailing and he enjoyed helming and crewing in regattas on Pamlico Sound, the Chesapeake Bay, Key West, FL and on Lakes Murry and Norman in the Carolinas.

Rick said that he was truly blessed in having a wonderful family, his son Jim and wife Rebecca, and their two children, Mya Kathryn and Anna James.

Rick was a kind, talented and dedicated father, friend, teacher and officer who will be fondly remembered by all who knew him. 

A visitation will be held on Saturday, February 1, 2025 from 2:00 - 3:30pm at Raymer-Kepner Funeral Home, Huntersville. Interment with full military honors will be held at 4:30pm at Crown Memorial Park in Pineville.

In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation in Rick's name to the American Heart Association or the Veterans Yoga Project using the links below. 

Online memories and condolences may be shared at www.KepnerFH.com