Fonds F2430 - Ian Fowler fonds

Ian H. Fowler, 1921- , was born in Castor, Alberta. His parents, George and Margaret (nee Hamilton) had emigrated from Hawick, Scotland and farmed at Castor. When Ian was six weeks old, the family moved to Brooks where his father had found employment with Grimm Alfalfa Seed Growers. In 1940 Ian enrolled at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) in Calgary to study aeronautics. He left after one year to work, then in January 1942 enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and was posted overseas. In 1944 his aircraft was disabled during a pilot patrol along the Danish border and crashed near Groningen, Holland. Ian survived but was captured by the Germans and made a prisoner of war (POW). He spent the rest of the Second World War in Dulag Luft and Stalag Luft III camps. Released in 1945, he returned to Canada, married Dorothy Pemberton and enrolled at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. He graduated in the spring of 1949 as a chemical engineer and was hired by Imperial Oil. He stayed with Imperial-Exxon until his retirement in 1986. The Fowlers moved to Calgary in 1980. Ian's uncle was Dr. James Fowler, after whom a Calgary school is named.