David Thomas Bowles Jr., 50, passed away Nov. 28, 2007, in Adelanto of a heart attack.

David was born Sept. 25, 1957, in Upland and was a resident of Yucaipa the past 26 years. He was a graduate of Claremont High School.

David was a third-generation builder. He started his career in his teens, owning a framing company at 19 years old. He moved on to All Claims Reconstruction, which he owned and ran for 11 years. During that time he was a Nascar owner and three-time champion. He most recently worked as a project manager for Stonebridge Development where he worked for seven years and built more than 1,000 homes in Southern California.

David is survived by his wife, Cindy Bowles of Yucaipa; daughters Michelle, Colette and Mary Bowles of Yucaipa; stepson Jared Rangel; mother, Patricia McNurlan; father, David Bowles Sr., stepmom, Judith Bowles and stepfather, Richard McNurlan of Yucaipa; brothers Steven Bowles of Yucaipa, Michael Bowles of Palm Desert, Scott Swisher of Texas, and Douglas Bowles of Menifee; and sister Elizabeth Bartholomew of Nevada.

Memorial services will be at 2 p.m. Sunday at Emmerson Bartlett Memorial Chapel, 703 Brookside Ave., Redlands. Emmerson Bartlett Memorial Chapel is handling arrangements.

~ Published in San Bernardino Sun on December 6, 2007

Yucaipa builder was people person
Author: Debbie Pfeiffer Trunnell, Staff Writer

When a construction worker accidentally cut his leg with a saw, David Bowles Jr., the supervisor, had the foresight to pinch off an artery so the man wouldn't bleed to death.

And every December when the annual taco barbecue at his job site in Adelanto rolled around, he was the one organizing it and inviting everyone from fellow builders to City Hall employees to attend and get into the spirit of the season.

The third-generation builder from Yucaipa loved building homes from the ground up, but even more than that, he was a people person who wanted to make sure everyone was OK, from family members and friends to those he worked.

"He was a person who got the job done but always showed consideration to others," said a brother, Michael Bowles of Palm Desert.

The longtime builder with the good nature died Nov. 28 in Adelanto of a heart attack. He was 50.

Bowles was born Sept. 25, 1957, in Upland to David Bowles Sr. and Patricia McNurlan.

As a young boy in Ontario he liked to play baseball and go fishing at June Lake in the Sierras.

He got an early introduction to construction work because his dad and grandfather worked in the field and he would often help out at work sites.

When his dad left the construction field and purchased a service station in Pomona, the young Bowles went to work there.

Mechanically minded, he was soon fixing cars as well as servicing them.

"From a young age he was waiting on people on the islands, changing oil and tuning up cars," said his father. "His goal was to get the cars to run right."

After his parents divorced, he moved with his dad to Claremont and spent his teen years there.

To earn money to pay for insurance so he could drive a 1955 Chevy pickup his grandfather gave him, he worked at an outlet store in Claremont.

After he graduated from Claremont High School, his family moved to Redlands and then Yucaipa, where he lived for the rest of his life.

His first job in the Redlands-Yucaipa area was in the nursery department at Lucky Stores in Redlands.

He liked working with the flowers and plants and giving them to people. On one he filled the back of his Chevy truck with flowers and took them to his mother.

Like his father, who eventually became a California Highway Patrol officer, he was an entrepreneur. By the time he was 19 he owned a framing company in Calimesa.

He moved on to run All Claims Reconstruction in Redlands, a company that did restoration work on homes damaged by fire or bad weather. He owned the company for 11 years.

Construction was not the only interest stemming from his childhood. He still liked automobiles, especially ones that could be driven at high speeds.

After a relative introduced him to car racing on the NASCAR circuit, he stuck with it for many years. Bowles started out on a pit crew working on a Camaro at area speedways.

But he soon worked his way up to car ownership.

He and his driver raced super late-model 2 cars throughout California and the West, including the Orange Show and Saugus speedways, and he was a three-time division champion, according to his brother.

But he had to put car racing on the back burner after he and his first wife were divorced, leaving him with three daughters to raise.

He took on the job with the same energy he showed for everything else, said his father.

"It was a monumental task raising three daughters himself but he did a very good job," he said. "He made sure they went to school and taught them to be self-sufficient and to steer clear of bad influences."

Mostly he supported their athletic endeavors.

When his youngest daughter was playing softball at Yucaipa High, he helped her team any way he could.

He got the softball field ready for play, brought along propane heaters to keep the mothers on the sidelines warm and often rose at 4 a.m. to make brownies and cookies for the girls.

He continued to work in the construction business. In later years, he worked as a project manager for Los Angeles-based Stonebridge Development.

During his time with the company, where he was still working at the time of his death, he helped build more than 1,000 homes all over the San Bernardino area.

Most recently he worked at a job site in Adelanto.

At work he was known for jumping in and solving problems and his desire for perfection but also for looking out for the people he supervised.

He was so concerned that he even went with his father to EMT classes at Crafton Hills College in Yucaipa because he felt he needed the training.

"His attitude was that if someone was hurt on the job, he could maybe save them," said his father. "In more than one situation, he did just that."

Life was good for Bowles until a few years ago when he went to a softball tournament with his daughter in Oklahoma and got a virus in his bloodstream that settled on his heart valve.

He was hooked up to an IV when he returned home but still made it to his daughter's softball games.

Bowles also went to work every day. He was on the job site in Adelanto when he died.

Out of respect for the man who had treated them with respect and kindness, his subcontractors did not work the next day.

He will also be remembered at the annual taco barbecue next week in Adelanto.

"When I called friends he had known since the age of 19 to tell them what happened they all said the same thing - that he was such a deciding factor in who they became," said his brother. "He just gave so much."

Bowles also is survived by his wife, Cindy; daughters Michelle, Colette and Mary Bowles, all of Yucaipa; a stepson, Jared Rangel of Phelan; his mother and stepfather, Patricia and Richard McNurlan of Yucaipa; Mother's Day his stepmother, Judith Bowles of Yucaipa; brothers Steven Bowles of Yucaipa, Scott Swisher of Irving, Texas, and Douglas Bowles of Menifee; and a sister, Elizabeth Bartholomew of Pahrump, Nev.

Memorial services are scheduled at 2 p.m. today at Emmeson-Bartlett Memorial Chapel, 703 Brookside Ave., Redlands.