SOWDEN, Rowena Bernice (1917-2012). Rowena Bernice Sowden of San Juan Capistrano, CA, passed away on Nov. 23, 2012 at the age of 95. Born in Niedpath, SK, Bernice Thomson, as she was then known, was from one of the first families to homestead in the area. By 1939 she had relocated to Vancouver, BC, where she met and married William Sowden. In 1950 the family emigrated to the US, where Mrs. Sowden ultimately became city manager of Medina, WA, a town on Lake Washington east of Seattle. It is believed she was the first woman west of the Rockies to hold the position of city manager, and the first woman member of the International City Manager’s Assoc. She took pride in the hard work and determination which brought her from farm life to city leadership. However, despite a happy retirement in 1977 to San Juan Capistrano, CA, she is quoted as having felt forever Canadian. Her childhood on the farm was an extremely happy one and, above all, she loved the land. When a family member expressed resentment at her emigration to the US, she said “That hurt me, for in my heart I had never left.” In Swift Current she is predeceased by her father Frank Thomson in 1979, brother Frank Thomson, Jr. in 1980, and nephew Bob Thomson in 1999. She is survived by daughter Lana Perry of Laguna Niguel, CA; grandsons Derrick Brown of Denver, CO; Colby Brown of Laguna Beach, CA and great grandchildren Clayton Brown and Olivia Brown of Denver, CO.