Darene Jewel Bowman (Wagner) passed away peacefully at her Camano Island home with her family at her side on Friday, December 16, 2022. Darene was born in Seattle, Washington and raised in Hoopa, California where she and her family enjoyed living on the Hoopa Reservation and all the area had to offer. Darene and her two brothers spent endless days down at the Trinity River swimming, playing and rescuing tourists from the river. Over holidays, the family enjoyed house-boating on Lake Trinity as well visiting family in Elger Bay on Camano Island, WA.

After graduating from Hoopa High School, Darene enrolled at San Jose State University. During a summer internship in Sacramento, she met and fell in love with her husband Fred Bowman and transferred to University of Washington, where he was attending college. Darene went on to have a successful career as the Director of HR for a cancer research company in Seattle called CRAB. Darene and Fred had two children, Mitchel and Laura, who were Darene's pride and joy. She was a beautiful, loving, kind, and generous mother, wife, sister, friend, aunt, and cousin. In her final years of life, she was able to fulfill her most anticipated role as Grandma. Darene was a spirited, fun-loving, mischievous woman who loved to laugh and enjoyed life for all the fun it had to offer.

After an almost decade-long struggle with FTD Dementia, Darene is now finally free. Despite the imposing hardships that dementia caused, Darene remained incredibly strong and graceful throughout her illness. The biggest blessing was that she never lost sight of who her people were, and for that we are all forever grateful. Her spirit will live on in Hoopa, Willow Creek, and Camano Island alongside many past and present family members. Darene was 71.

She is preceded in death by her father, Mitchel H. Wagner, her mother, Jewel F. McCarthy, and her two brothers, David and Mitchel Wagner. Darene is survived by her husband, Fred Bowman, her son, Mitchel Bowman, her daughter, Laura Bowman and her grandson, Julian Francis Bowman.

A celebration of life will be held on Camano Island, WA at the Camano Island Country Club on March 18th at 4:00pm. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the UW Medicine Biorepository and Integrated Research (BRaIN) laboratory, where Darene's legacy will help further research to find a cure for dementia and other memory disorders.

https://together.uw.edu/Campaign/donate-in-memory-of-our-darene