Barbara Ellis McGowan, a Pacific Palisades resident for over 60 years, died on July 22 at the age of 88 after living with Alzheimer’s disease for almost 10 years. Barbara was born in Seattle to Neil and Ellen Ellis, and was active with her younger sister Marilyn and friends in school activities through her sophomore year at the University of Washington. In 1938 she married Wayne A. McGowan, an amateur pilot and aeronautical engineer from South Dakota, and they moved to California to participate in the pre-war growth of the aeronautical industry. They agreed that she would complete her college education at a later date. By 1945, Barbara and Wayne had settled in the Palisades house that would be their home for the rest of their lives. Soon there were three children to nurture, Sally, Sunny and Bill, and new friends from the neighborhood coffee klatsch, the Community United Methodist Church and the Junior Women’s Club. When the children were all at Palisades Elementary School, the time had come for Barbara to resume her college education at UCLA. Her affiliation with UCLA continued as she earned her B.A. as a Phi Beta Kappa and a master’s degree in psychology, and her professional career developed from a student intern position to a director at the UCLA Psychological and Counseling Services. Her work centered on the development of women’s potential and their full contribution to the solution of social problems. She facilitated the evolution of many women of the era as they expanded their horizons to include further education, volunteer opportunities or paid employment through a popular UCLA Extension Class (‘Group Counseling for Women’) and the founding of a similar program at the Santa Monica YWCA known as the Aware Advisory Center for Educational and Vocational Counseling. The consideration of the options that were becoming more available to women became the topic of her doctoral dissertation to complete her Ph.D. After her retirement from UCLA, Barbara continued as a counselor locally in private practice and through a counseling center at the Methodist Church. She also enjoyed participating in P.E.O., swimming at the YMCA, playing the cello with a quartet and sharing time with friends and family. Retirement allowed more freedom to travel, an avocation that had grown from family car trips to the Seattle and South Dakota homesteads, to a number of overseas trips. One European trip extended for almost a year and another highlight was a raft trip through the Grand Canyon. Her seven grandchildren inspired some domestic visits to Bill and Kim McGowan’s children Debbie and Wayne near Atlanta; Sunny and Bob Iboshi’s children Kimi and Kyle near Portland, Oregon and closer at hand, Sally and Ron Munro’s children Leslie, Julie and Michael in Malibu. Although her husband Wayne and son Bill predeceased Barbara, there are now 10 great-grandchildren who will honor her memory. There will be a memorial gathering at the McGowan home in the Palisades next Wednesday, August 16, at 2 p.m. to share memories of the life of Barbara McGowan.
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