- Date Of Birth: August 30, 1932
- Date Of Death: January 16, 2021
- State: Indiana
Edmond Eugene Bowling, 88, of Osceola, Indiana passed away at 7:40 p.m. Saturday, January 16, 2021, in the Center for Hospice Care Raclin House.
Edmond was born on August 30, 1932 in Danville, Illinois to the late Carl Monroe and Blanche (Craig) Bowling. He had lived in Osceola since 1968, coming from Indianapolis.
On April 25, 1954 at Grace Methodist Church in Marshall, Illinois, he married the love of his life, Betty June Thompson, who survives. Edmond is also survived by three daughters, Teresa Witcher of Galien, Michigan, Cheryl (Bill) Morey of Walkerton, Indiana and Valerie (Kevin) Ong of Elkhart, Indiana; his son, Carson (Sandy) Bowling of Mishawaka, Indiana; 9 grandchildren, Steven Witcher, Stephanie (Bryan) Riedel, Scott (Rachelle) Witcher, Daniel (Andrea) Hartstein, Carl (Teresa) Hartstein, Victoria (Troy) Brassell, Jon (TeeA) Ong, Jeremy (Risa) Ong, and Geoffrey (Janet Kamiri) Ong; and 10 great-grandchildren, Bridgette Stockwell, Claire Witcher, Maximillian Riedel, Abigail, Caroline and Henry Hartstein, Emmalyne Hartstein, and Rebekah, Lawrence and Bethany Ong. Edmond was preceded in death by his brother, Carl Craig Bowling.
Edmond was very proud of his service in the United States Army, Indiana National Guard and the Army Reserves. He held many leadership positions including serving as a special consultant for 22 years before retiring with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
Edmond graduated from Indiana State University with a bachelor’s and master’s degree in secondary education. He then went on to receive a PhD from Indiana University/Michigan State in organizational psychology.
Edmond began his working career as a high school teacher, principal and assistant superintendent. From there he moved on to be a senior loss control engineer and Mid-West training director-engineering with American Mutual Liability Insurance Co. Edmond was then offered the opportunity to go back to working in the education field by becoming the regional product design and marketing director with Holt Rinehart and Winston Educational Publishers. This would require him to work in Chicago and the decision was made to move his family from Indianapolis to Osceola.
Forever growing in his knowledge, Edmond went on to be the national vice president of marketing and sales with Marketing Manpower Development; associate executive director with National School Boards Association and then he led the department of Membership Associations and Development with three different major recreational vehicle corporations. His first retirement was from Holiday Rambler after increasing its membership organization to 40,000 members.
After retirement, he spent three years as president of Trans World Electronics, a sound equipment manufacturing, sales and engineering company. Then he and his wife owned a Fantastic Sams Family Hair Care Salon in Mishawaka. Finally, real retirement came when the shop was closed in 2006.
Never one to sit around, Edmond was active in community theater with his wife and children. He acted some, operated sound and lighting, directed and even wrote some scripts. He became president of Osceola Community Theater when they moved into performing at Battell Center in Mishawaka.
In 1995, a portion of that group formed a new performance company at the same location. It was called Mishawaka Civic Theater. Through the period of 1995 until leaving Battell in 2002, the group performed 25 major stage presentations and six dinner mysteries. After leaving Battell Center, the group performed dinner mysteries, cabaret musicals, and unique training programs and training workshops for various corporations and associations using the interactive mystery theater technique. Most of the script materials utilized in those training sessions were written by Edmond.
Edmond loved being around people so he could teach them, guide them, direct them and help them to grow in their career or in their passion for the theater. If you had time, he always had a story to share. He was loved and will be missed by many, especially his family.
