SNOHOMISH — Devin Rowe, a 2004 graduate of Snohomish High School, was killed last week in an Alabama hunting accident. He was 24.
Rowe died after being shot in the chest during a family trip, said Robert Malone, coroner in Monroe County, Ala.
Family members tentatively scheduled a Snohomish memorial service on Feb. 12 for Rowe, an Army veteran who served two tours in Iraq and always was at home outdoors.
“He was a really upbeat, goofy guy,” twin sister Brittany Rowe said. “He always had a big smile on his face.”
As a child, Devin Rowe wandered around the woods on his parents’ seven-acre Snohomish property, hand-in-hand with his twin sister, both of them wearing the same haircut.
“He basically was always doing something outside, whether it was fishing or hunting,” Brittany Rowe said. “He liked cars — he was redoing a ‘67 Mustang.”
He joined the football team at Snohomish High School, playing on the offensive line. The school’s head football coach, Mark Perry, called him “just another of those guys who loved the game.”
After high school, Rowe enlisted in the Army, following in the footsteps of his father, Jesse Rowe, 72, a U.S. Coast Guard veteran who served in Vietnam.
Devin Rowe saw combat during two tours of duty in Iraq. He was stationed in both Baghdad and Yusufiyah, the latter city in an area nicknamed the Triangle of Death.
“It was pretty tough,” his father said.
Sgt. Devin Rowe was honorably discharged in Feb. 2009. His experience overseas helped lead him to a new career. He enrolled in the nursing program at Cascadia Community College in September.
“When he was over in Iraq, he had to deal with so many medical emergencies,” Brittany Rowe said. “He really excelled at it. He really loved it.”
Rowe died during his family’s annual deer hunting trip to Monroe County, Ala., a rural, pine-forested county with a population of 22,500, famous for being the birthplace of Harper Lee, author of “To Kill A Mockingbird.”
Rowe was accidentally shot by another person in the hunting party around 9 a.m. Jan. 21. He died at the scene, the Monroe County coroner said.
Family members extended their stay in Alabama, spreading a portion of Rowe’s ashes where he loved to hunt. After they return to Snohomish, they intend to take more of his remains to spots including Winthrop, another favorite place.
Along with his father and twin sister, Devin Rowe is survived by his mother, Charmaine Rowe, 63, and another sister, Mandi Rowe, 26.
Andy Rathbun: 425-339-3455, arathbun@heraldnet.com.
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