People of Conshohocken – Ray Bowman

People of Conshohocken – Ray Bowman

3/25/2019

by Brian Coll

This is part of our People of Conshohocken series…
We have close to 10,000 people in our borough, add in the residents of West Conshohocken, Plymouth, Whitemarsh and Lafayette Hill and we have a large community. Some of the people that will be featured will be well known in the area, some will have just moved into the area, some will have been here their entire lives. Some of them may be business owners, or people who walk around the area, or maybe work in the area. Maybe you know them, maybe you don’t. Everyone has a story. While we are only going to take their picture and maybe ask a question or two, we want to share these stories with you.

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I got the chance to talk to an old friend around Saint Patrick’s Day – Ray Bowman. Ray is a busy guy, so it was good to catch up with him. When I say a busy guy, he’s works full time for the Whitemarsh Police Department (for the past 15 years) he helps out at the Plymouth Fire Company as well as the AOH Division 1 and bartends occasionally at the VFW where he is a social member. If he’s not working, or volunteering at one of these organizations he loves playing golf, watching college sports and getting together with family and friends.

Ray grew up here, attending Saint Matthews grade school, and is a graduate of Archbishop Kennedy class of 1987. I asked what his favorite memory of Conshohocken is and he chuckled and talked about being able to have a catch OVER Fayette Street on the upper aves somewhere around 15th Ave. I can’t imagine kids being able to do that today….. In talking about what’s changed the most over the years, he mentioned the commercialization of the area, the added traffic and overdevelopment. He still feels it’s a close knit community and loves how everyone comes together to help each other out in times of need. He feels there are still a ot of positive things in the community and appreciates the close ties he has to his friends in the different organizations and in the community.

Ray was involved with the Donofrio Tournament from 1989 – 2015 and he spoke about the old days where college coaches and scouts could come to the games, on one night, it was really, really crowded and Ray told a few of the guys he was working the game with at the scorers table that the next time someone bumped into him he was going to give them an earful… just then, P.J. Carlesimo and Jimmy Boeheim bumped into him and placed their hands filled with championship rings on his shoulder and started chatting with him. How funny is that? Ray enjoyed watching Kobe and Rashid play over the years along with countless other future stars of the College ranks and NBA.

Ray, on a personal note, thanks so much for everything you have done for this community over the years, you are truly one of the unsung heroes.