Our Pacific Northwest

Our Pacific Northwest

Remembering Gordon Lee Rowan

After days of uncertainty, it has been confirmed three of the thirty-eight workers killed during a terrorist takeover of a BP gas plant in Algeria last week where Americans, one of which being Gordon Lee Rowan of Sumpter, Oregon. In a report filed by The Oregonian, Rowan was in charge of the fracking program for the station's natural gas and oil production. Rowan was raised near the Snake River and after graduating high school in 1973 completed a petroleum engineering program at the University of Oklahoma. After serving in the military, Rowan made a home in Phoenix, Ariz., but traveled around the world to conduct his work. The report went on to state Rowan’s wife died nearly five years ago, but is survived by two grown sons who are also engineers. Rowan was likely going to retire at the end of March. Empirical would like to take this opportunity to give our condolences to the friends and family of Gordon Lee Rowan who will remember him as a wonderful man and a native son of our Pacific Northwest.

 

Photo via CBS News