Wanda Mae Fowler was born June 9, 1928 in Roberts, Montana to Dennis Richard (Dick) and Alvira (Vi) Sullivan. The couple had welcomed Wanda’s brother Dennis just two years previously.

The great depression soon forced the family from the rural lands of Montana to Bend, Oregon, where Dick found work in a local lumber mill. Wanda attended elementary and high school in Bend.

Soon after graduating from high school Wanda left Bend for the big city of Portland. She settled in the public housing development of Vanport. She was there on May 30, 1948 when the Columbia River dike collapsed and flooded the town. Through the help of a neighbor she was able to escape the rising water with her life but little else.

Wanda then relocated to San Diego, California where she worked on the construction of airplanes, extending the legacy of “Rosie the Riveter” started during the war years. By most accounts this was the happiest time of her life.

While in San Diego she reconnected with another Bend High graduate, Jimmie Jo Fowler, and the couple soon married. While the union did not last, it did produce one son – Dennis Zeb Fowler. The small family lived for a time in the Mohave Desert, but soon found its way to back to Portland where Wanda would live for nearly sixty years until her death on September 30, 2016.

Wanda was a kind and generous person to all her friends, with a knack for remembering and honoring birthdays and holidays her entire life.
In Portland, Wanda worked as a retail clerk for both the Meier & Frank Company and the J.K. Gill Company, from which she retired in 1993.

She is survived by her son Dennis (Little Denny) and her brother Dennis (Big Denny).

In lieu of flowers we ask that you make a donation to your local veteran’s support group as Wanda was a long-time supporter of such groups.

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