William Lewis "Bill" Rowe Iii

William "Bill" Lewis Rowe III, born May 7th, 1931 in Montclair, NJ passed peacefully on Monday, May 28th, 2019, at the age of 88, with his loving family by his side.
Bill, the son of William Lewis Rowe II and Eleanor Zabriskie Rowe, is survived by his loving wife, Katharine Daley "Bunny", a.k.a. "Darling!"; his two daughters, Kimberly Rowe Manion and Heather Rowe Ambrose, who he couldn't have been more proud of; his two "luggage-carrying and picture-taking" sons-in-law, Tim Ambrose and Dennis Manion; his two spirited granddaughters, Elizabeth "Ella" and Anna "Annie" Manion; his sister and brother-in-law, Frances "Toby" and Floyd "George" Hohenstein; and his nieces Anne Wilkinson and Cynthia Davis and their families.
Bill proudly served in the US Army in Germany during the Korean War. After college he moved to Plattsburgh in the early 1960s to open Rowe Buick with his father. It's in Plattsburgh where he met is beautiful wife, Bunny. This led to a 57 year marriage filled with adventure after adventure and more love than you can imagine.
When the car business wasn't any fun anymore, Bill got out. With Bunny at his side, they built a successful boat business, Rowe Boats International. They ran their business as a team, something only few married couples can successfully accomplish. In addition to the boat business, they turned the car dealership into a commercial property currently known as Adirondack Plaza.
Bill loved to ski every winter weekend with his family at Whiteface. During the summer months, he spent his weekends on Lake Champlain on a variety of boats called "Crisis" (just imagine how they came up with that name), "Spirit of Valcour" and "Ghost of Valcour", and always with his family. On the sailboat race course, he was a fierce competitor.
Bill loved to tell stories about the history of Lake Champlain, especially the Battle of Valcour, which took place in front of his house. His fascination with the Battle and Benedict Arnold, lead him to name his boats "Benedict Arnold" and then "Dark Eagle," Arnold's code name.
Serving the community was important to Bill. He was an Honorary Commander with the Plattsburgh Air Force Base, Commander in the Lake Champlain Coast Guard Auxiliary, a member of the Board of Directors of the Clinton County Historical Association, and a lifetime member of the Valcour Sailing Club. With 56 years of distinguished service with Rotary, and having received Rotary's highest honors, he was active with Rotary until the very end. Bill was extremely proud of his service to the community.
While he was the consummate gentleman and a stickler for manners, Bill ran with a posse of "bad actors", his loyal and long-term friends, who helped him create a lifetime of stories. Anyone who knew him has at least one great story to tell. It's these memories that will help remember a man who was larger than life.
A Celebration of His Life will be held on Sunday, June 9th from 1 - 4 pm. Friends of Bill and his family are welcome. Go to www.mauinorth.net/billrowe/ for more information.
In lieu of flowers, donations in bill’s memory may be made to the Clinton County Historical Association or Rotary.
Arrangements have been entrusted to the Brown Funeral Home, Plattsburgh.
Online condolences may be offered at www.brownfuneralhomeinc.com