Leslie Ann Hamren Rowley

Memorial services for Leslie Ann Hamren Rowley will be at 1 p.m. Saturday, June 8 at Sunnyside Cemetery, Coupeville. A reception will follow at St Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Oak Harbor.

Leslie and her family have been long time residents of Oak Harbor. Leslie was born Sept. 18, 1944, in Riverside, Calif. She died Nov. 19, 2001, in Falls Church, of primary pulmonary hypertension (PPH) that had only been diagnosed since March of that year.

Leslie received her bachelor’s degree in history from the University of California at Santa Barbara. Later she earned her master’s degree in education from Indiana University.

She married James W. Rowley March 15, 1969, and joined the Navy family. Their Navy life took them from California to Asia to Virginia. The Rowleys were blessed with two beautiful sons, Marc who was born in 1975 who is employed as a producer for ESPN in Connecticut, and Matt who was born in 1976 and died two short years later.

Everywhere the Rowley family landed with their many Navy moves, Leslie found employment. She was as a professional development specialist at Hughes Aircraft in Los Angeles and dean of student activities at California State University, to name a few. However, the majority of Leslie’s work career was teaching in the K-12 public school systems. In Oak Harbor, Leslie taught in several schools depending upon the duty tour but the longest assignment was as a kindergarten teacher at Hillcrest Elementary. Leslie was instrumental in teaching English as a second language as well as Cooperative Learning. She also taught in DOD in Japan and several districts in Virginia at various times. Leslie not only taught the young students she was also a teacher of teachers in many of the important various curriculum areas for in-service and college certification. She was extremely important and considered the driving force behind the peer mediation conference at George Mason University, Fairfax, Va. In fact Leslie was so important to this ongoing 10-year program that this year’s conference is dedicated to Leslie’s memory.

Leslie remained active in family, schools and church activities until the end. Her strongest commitment beyond her faith and family was to her many friends. June 8 will be a time of celebration of Leslie’s full life and her many accomplishments with her close friend and pastor John Dorsch of Burke Community Church in Virginia officiating. All of Leslie’s friends are invited to join the family on this special day.