FOWLER, Sidney

FOWLER, DICKSON, HUSTON, RUEBEL

Posted By: Volunteer: Sherri
Date: 10/13/2016 at 10:04:41

Pioneer Flyer Thrilled Many On First Flights
By MRS. ART OVROM

KEOSAUQUA. - Sidney Fowler, whose funeral and burial took place at Center Chapel Church near Keosauqua today, probably was responsible more than any other man for introducing Van Buren County residents to the wonders of the air age.

Mr. Fowler, who died Monday at Sanford, Fla., just a few days short of his 69th birthday, was the first in the county to own and operate an airplane. He made his plane available for rides and thus airlifted many in this area for the first time.

It's difficult to find a middle-aged or older county native who can't remember seeing Sidney Fowler and his single Jenny at the county fair during the 1920's and 1930's. He charged about $5 a flight and thrilled countless contemporaries with their first flight.

THE PIONEER pilot learned to fly at Memphis, Mo., where he was a mechanic and later a test pilot for a company which manufactured the Pheasant airplane. There with fellow pilots he joined a group called the Early Birds, who barnstormed the country in the early 1920's, taking passengers for rides and giving air shows. His record was accident free.

Mr. Fowler also served as an instructor for other pilots. Two of his pupils in this area were the late Stong Short and Taylor Campbell of near Bonaparte. Campbell says his teacher was very competent and careful, spending most of the week tinkering on his plane and flying it on Sundays.

BACK IN THE days when everyone looked up at the sound of an airplane, lessons were expensive, averaging about $20 per hour. No license was required for either the pilot or the plane, and any old cow pasture served as an airport, according to Campbell.

A 40-acre pasture just north of the Fowler farm near Keosauqua, was the home port for Mr. Fowler's biplane. The land is so flat there that no work was required, according to Mr. Fowler's brother, Marius Fowler. He owned no hangar, simply tied the plane to a fence to keep it from blowing away.

A bachelor, Marious Fowler still lives on the 240-acre family farm which will have been in the family a century next year.

AT THE URGING of his wife, Letha, Mr. Fowler gave up flying when the couple moved to Florida in 1937. During World War II, however, he was able to utilize his knowledge of aeronautics by becoming an inspector at an airplane repair depot in Florida. Following the war he retired and kept busy on his acreage where he raised peacocks as a hobby.

Marious Fowler recalls that his brother was a lover of classical literature and always had a quotation to fit any occasion. A self-educated man, he attended only country school at the Indian Creek schoolhouse.

Other survivors besides his wife and brother include another brother, Lewis Jr., of Keosauqua, and three sisters, Mrs. Leslie Dickson of Keosauqua, Mrs. Fannie Huston of San Bernardino, Calif., and Mrs. Meribah Ruebel of Council Bluffs.

Source: Van Buren Co. Genealogical Society Obituary Book G, Page 240, Keosauqua Public Library, Keosauqua, IA