We'll Miss You, Sam Bowlin!
It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to Sam Bowlin, Facilities Manager, Minidoka National Historic Site! Sam has been instrumental in the growth of Minidoka, and was the current longest serving staff at the site. Sam is moving to Salt Lake City with his partner and will manage multiple facilities for a large brewing company.
Sam has an extensive background with the National Park Service, beginning in June 2013 as he worked at Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park as a Park Guide, and taught visitors about the Wright Brothers, bicycles, and aviation. After 3 seasons Sam was promoted to a permanent maintenance employee for several units including; Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park, Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument, William Howard Taft National Historic Site, and Hopewell Culture National Historical Park. Then, in November 2018 he accepted the Maintenance position at Minidoka National Historic site. He currently acts as the facilities manager where he “strive[s] to maintain the site in the best possible condition.”
Sam’s knowledge and experience goes beyond his work with the National Park Service and his phenomenal crafting skills. He has degrees in sociology and social work. He explains that he, “worked as a domestic violence counselor for several years in a woman’s shelter that focuses on domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking.”
However, something surprising about Sam, according to his words, is that he is “terrified of rollercoasters for ridiculous reasons.” Many of us who have worked at Minidoka NHS share great memories with Sam. He writes that some of his memories include, “time spent with coworkers, to watching interns grow and overcome self-doubt, to events important to the park like the pilgrimages, the visitor center completion and grand opening and the many visitors that discovered the site and learned of our history.”
However, he does have a very special memory stick with him. Sam writes, “...one family [who] visited the site during our 2019 pilgrimage decided to honor their family member who had been incarcerated at Minidoka and had shortly before passed away. They made the trip for their family member and during the ceremonies held a small private memorial, said some quiet words, and spread a small amount of their ashes under the guard tower. Watching this moment is where I made the connection of how important this site is, not only to our nation’s history, but to real people that don’t see it as history and are affected still today.”
Those who visit the park today see the hard work and dedication that Sam puts into the site every single day. While he acknowledges that he spends a lot of time at the park, in his free Sam's days are still packed full of hobbies. He explains, “I love exploring and hiking Idaho with my dog Eli. I paint miniature features for playing dungeons and dragons, which I play weekly. I collect silver and gold coins. I really enjoy woodworking and building things, which you think I’d be tired of after spending my work week building and fixing things, but I find it relaxing.”
Sam is certainly a phenomenal craftsman. In the entrance of Mindoka’s visitor center, a hand-crafted wooden American Flag with forty-eight stars greets visitors. The flag, truly a work of art, was crafted by Sam. He certainly keeps the site in amazing condition and visitors to the site can find other parts of his work throughout the rest of the visitor’s center and throughout the park.
In his free time, Sam also enjoys, “trying to spend as much time with my daughter (Kaitlyn) and my significant other (Tauna) who are both responsible for making me as amazing as I am.”
Please thank Sam for all he has done for Minidoka! We will miss him
