Joan Bowser Delon

DeLon, Joan Bowser, age 85, passed away peacefully at Hospice of Dayton on Thursday, February 9th, 2023. 

Joan was born in La Jolla California in 1937 and growing up she attended school in such places as California, Virginia, Paris, France and Honolulu, Hawaii before graduating from the College of Wooster. Joan was a retired English & American literature teacher at Fairmont West and Kettering Fairmont High Schools. She was a dedicated teacher whose students kept in contact with her long after high school and was inducted into the Chester A. Roush Educator Hall of Fame in 2003. Joan continued to teach in retirement by visiting schools across the Dayton area as a docent for the Dayton Philharmonic Volunteer Association. Joan was also a dedicated and active member of David’s United Church of Christ, a member of the P.E.O. Chapter CK, an avid needlepoint and cross-stitch enthusiast, loved to write and tell stories about her travels around the world, and loved spending time with her family and watching her granddaughters in their activities. 

Joan is survived by her loving husband, Richard, and children Dana Sue DeLon and David and Cynthia (Joiner) DeLon, and their children Katherine (Kate) and Elizabeth (Beth). Joan was preceded in death by her parents, Lt. General Alpha L. Bowser, USMC, and Mary (Clapp) Bowser and her sister-in-law Beverly DeLon. 

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, February 18th, 11am, at David’s United Church of Christ, 170 W. David Road, Kettering, Ohio 45429. A livestream of the service will be made available by visiting David's Facebook page. A reception will follow the memorial service. In lieu of flowers, charitable donations may be made in Joan’s memory to David’s UCC Remembrance Fund, 170 West David Road, Kettering, Ohio 45429 or to the Joan & Dick DeLon Arts Fund (1632) at The Dayton Foundation, 1401 S. Main Street, Suite 100, Dayton, Ohio 45409. The family would like to extend a special thanks to the dedicated and compassionate nurses and staff at Miami Valley Hospital and Hospice of Dayton.