JAN REBECCA STEELE BOWERS July 5, 1942 – Aug. 4, 2025

Jan Rebecca Steele Bowers was the oldest of six children, born on July 5, 1942, in Los Angeles, California to Dorothy Jane Petersen and Floyd George Steele.

She grew up walking the beaches of Southern California and spent summers on her grandparents’ ranch in Colorado. She graduated from The Bishop’s School and attended The San Diego College for Women. Jan met her husband, Richard Bowers, in La Jolla, married in August 1963, and moved to Eugene Oregon. The family lived in Austin, Texas, New Providence, New Jersey and Livermore, California before moving to Los Alamos, New Mexico in 1982. 

Jan studied piano and had a lifelong love of classical music, was a collector of books, and a firm believer of reading out-loud. Jan was an outstanding cook. No holiday was too small to celebrate with good food. She was an avid correspondent, enjoyed gardening and tracing family genealogy. Jan was a cat whisperer and believed that every home should have at least one well trained dog. She inspired, among many other things, a great love of reading, gardening, eating, and a wicked sense of humor in her children. Jan passed quietly in her sleep the night of Aug. 4. 

She is survived by her husband, their three children, Steven Bowers, Margaret Bowers, and Gregory Bowers, grandson Gus Bowers, brother George Steele, and sisters Penny Steele and Sidney Johnson.

A funeral mass will be held at 11 a.m., Nov. 12, 2025, at Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Los Alamos.