By George Frye

Gordon Stowe was a personal friend and acquaintance. He died a few days ago on November 6. I was not expecting his death, since I had seen him is relatively good health last March at his winter home in Sun City West, Arizona. After the war, Gordon established one of the first special instruments distributorships, Gordon Stowe and Associates. He was very successful. His friends included Poul Madsen and Rufus Grasen, both well known names in the audiometric industry, as well as many more.

I first met Gordon at the Chicago Airport, where I had flown to meet him and get acquainted. He was interested in distributing our products. Because we were not sure what the other looked like, as I came off the airplane he met me holding one of our bright orange 5000 analyzers under his arm. Later, he displayed our orange analyzer in his booth on top of a tiger skin rug. A nice touch, that.

He was an avid aviator and owned a twin engine Travelaire aircraft that he kept at the Palwaukee Airport close to his business. I flew with him a couple of times. Once, after we were at an audiology meeting in Kentucky, we flew to Chicago together and landed at Meigs Field near downtown Chicago. The day was bright Midwestern blue with lots of sunshine on the sparkling water of Lake Michigan, with a sailboat regatta in progress when we landed. Things like that you don't easily forget. Another time we flew from Palwaukee to a weekend at his place in upper Michigan. On the way as we were crossing the lake, he handed to controls to me and said "Keep the altitude and compass heading the same." And proceeded to take a nap. That took a lot of trust, since I love airplanes but don't know how to fly. When we arrived at his place, his wife Jane and several big dogs noisily greeted us. Later that night we attended a string quartet concert at Interlochen, a short distance away.

Gordon liked to play chess and easily beat me. He was at heart an engineer and liked to make things. He kept a set of machine tools at work for business and personal projects. When he sold his business and retired in 1990, he and Jane traveled around the world. I am not sure of all the places they went, but I do know he broke his ankle on a white water rafting trip in New Zealand. And he was not a light weight guy. I think he calmed down a bit after that, although his obituary mentioned he qualified and got a hot air balloon license.

He was a great guy and will be missed.

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Obituary: Gordon Stowe, Pioneer in Hearing Instrument Distribution, November 15, 2007 HR Insider