Gene Thomas Cowen passed away peacefully in his sleep on November 28, 2013 in his home at 236 Vernon Street, Mondovi, Wisconsin. He was born on April 24, 1977 in Westminster, California to Diane Racine. He is survived by his 4 children, Kaylea and Emma, born to Gene and Carrie Risler, Noah and Landon born to Gene and Amanda Cowen and his soon to be born daughter to Gene and Amy Dolan, his mother Diane Racine, his Grandparents Gene Orin and DeVerne Ione Fennell, his sister, Cheryl Marie Cowen, her husband Ramon Palomino and their children, Nathaniel and Lisa Palomino. He also loved his pets, Barkley the iguana, Chance the iguana, CJ and Buddy his dogs, and Checkers the tortoise.
Gene was born and raised in California and loved the beach. One of his requests was to have his ashes spread over Huntington Beach, where he spent a lot of time surfing. We will try our best to come together as a family in Huntington in the future to make this happen. He loved his family and was constantly complimented on how great of a father he was. He was very proud of all his children and readily bragged about them at every opportunity. His excitement about his new baby girl, due in January, could be seen in his face every time he talked about her. Gene had a great smile that could light up a room and you couldn’t help but want to be his friend. He had a very special way of making people feel good about them and he always made sure that they knew they were special to him.
Private services were held at the Talbot funeral home in Mondovi at 2:30 PM on 2 December 2013.