A Celebration of Life for Dacus Paul Bowles, 38, Odessa, Missouri, formerly of West Plains, will be held from 1:00 until 4:00 p.m., Saturday, October 21, 2023, at Dawt Mill, Tecumseh, Missouri.
Dacus was born in Hershey, Pennsylvania where we lived in the shadow of the hospital on Med Center grounds. He was a highly prized first son to Judy and Richard and an automatic plaything and companion for curious active gentle older sister Jolene. From Hershey the family of four migrated to West Plains, Missouri where they were in due course joined by two more roly-poly baby boys and the family entered what to Dacus was a fine ole time. The Kidpowers were complete. They had each other, the outdoors, friends, trampolines, stock tank pools, blob pools, rivers, cliffs, good schools and zip lines. More than once looking back Dacus was heard to say, “Whatever else happens you can never say we didn’t have a great childhood.”
When he left West Plains it was to play football for William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri after being all state in high school. He ended his football career after injury and was recruited to the cheer squad. He was dismissed from college for grades but fought back and graduated in Jewell’s Scottish tradition the same day as his cousin Kate with a Theater major. His ability to memorize Shakespeare was unparalleled. For a semester he was hired as Professor of Ballroom Dance at Jewell. Oh to see him dance again. At a college function in Kansas City when a waltz started to play he approached an unsuspecting wall flower, bowed and extended his hand. “No I can’t dance,” she demurred. “Can you follow…” his goodwill eyes aglow and his friendly graceful hand expectantly cradling hers. Off they glided, round and round the dance floor. Like pros.
He became a steady school sub in the greater Kansas City area and lived in Lexington, Missouri. His Penmac employer called Dacus their best. “Everyone wanted Dacus, including the students.” He became a self-styled musician specializing in Irish shanties.
Only Justin Brill could make a deer hunter out of Dacus. Dacus leaves behind his crippled pet squirrel Littlefellow whom he rescued from the roadside two years ago and who loved to ball up in any of Dacus’s places.
Dacus loved the huge family reunions at Windermere on Lake of the Ozarks. He was THE most popular attendee year in and year out. The big reason being that all the siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles wanted The Dacus to blob them. Even Great Aunt Mary Lou.
Among Dacus’s biggest heroes and influences were his grandfathers, Delano Robertson and Richard Bowles Sr. He shared Jewell football and ballroom dancing so meaningfully with Richard Sr. Of all the people with whom Dacus came into contact on this earth, Delano is the one to whom he could relate the best. Though they started far apart on the political spectrum, they were getting closer.
It was difficult to know precisely how deeply Dacus felt. When he was four he was looking at a medical journal and kept asking, “What’s this?” He turned the last page and looked unsatisfied. Then with all the innocent curiosity of youth, “Show me a picture of the feelings.”
He kept a calm non-aggressive demeanor to a fault. It is hard to overstate how much he cherished his friends. What he enjoyed the very most was being with Jolene, Beau, and Del, and in more recent years, niece Daisy and Jolene’s Daniel.
Good bye Dacus. You know we love you.
Arrangements under the direction of Robertson-Drago Funeral Home.
