NORTHAMPTON — A second-floor skating rink. A train-station-turned-cocktail bar. A new, welcoming home for the Chamber of Commerce. Charles Bowles, who died last Saturday at 66, was known as a man with vision. And, at least at the beginning of his career, that vision was sometimes second-guessed.
His wife, Donna Bowles, recently recalled the reaction to her husband’s plan to open the country’s first, second-floor rollerskating rink. “Everybody told him he was crazy,” she said, adding that while her husband had enjoyed rollerskating as a child, she had no clue how he came up with the idea.
Interskate 91 in Hadley was also a business that involved their children, with both of the Bowles’ sons working there when they were younger. The business opened its doors in 1980 around the same time their first son was born.
“We were in the hospital for the grand opening,” she said.
He was a public figure with a personal touch, a pioneer who bridged the communities of Northampton and Hadley.
“People are heartbroken about his passing,” said Suzanne Beck, executive director of the Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce.
In addition to his widow and their two children, Michael Clayton Bowles and Christopher Charles Bowles, Bowles leaves behind a grandson, Theo, who was born Nov. 10 of last year. Bowles died from complications of a stroke he had in January.
Both sides of the bridge are feeling the loss.
“He filled a room whenever he walked into it,” said his son Christopher Bowles.
Bowles founded numerous businesses, including Interskate 91 at Hampshire Mall , as well as The Tunnel Bar in Northampton, and Spaghetti Freddy’s locations in Northampton, Springfield and Norwood. In 2000, Bowles shifted gears and became a real-estate developer, with the Garden House at Look Park in Northampton among his high-profile projects.
In developing businesses and properties, “He had a great eye for what you need to do and how you need to do it,” said Pat Goggins, president of Goggins Real Estate and a longtime friend.
Bowles was devoted to civic life. Among his contributions: co-founding Taste of Northampton, running the Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce’s tourism committee, and serving on the board of trustees of Cooley Dickinson Hospital.
“It’s a long list,” said Beck, who noted that Bowles also oversaw the renovation of the building at 99 Pleasant St. that currently houses the Chamber of Commerce. “It was an enormous project.”
Goggins was also a part of the effort to renovate the building, and he praised the final result, saying that it “leaves a beautiful first impression.”
Judith Fine, the former owner of Gazebo and a former Northampton city councilor, called him “a loyal friend.”
“You could count him,” she said. “He was discreet. He could keep a confidence.”
Charles Wood Bowles didn’t grow up in the Valley. Born in Durham, North Carolina, he is a graduate of Durham High School, Louisburg College, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he received his bachelor’s degree.
“He never lost his North Carolina drawl,” said Northampton City Councilor Dennis Bidwell.
And Goggins said that his friend used that accent to great effect.
“It would become much more noticeable, depending on what he needed,” said Goggins. “He would charm a lot of people that way.”
Goggins recalled Bowles using his drawl when Bowles ran the chamber’s auctions, for example.
The restaurant business brought Bowles and his family to the Pioneer Valley, moving first to Northampton in 1978 and then to Hadley in 1982.
“They were really terrific community people,” said Joyce Chunglo, who is chairwoman of the Hadley Select Board.
Bidwell credited Bowles with being one of the businesspeople who made bold investments in Northampton and the greater Valley in the 1980s, contributing to its revitalization.
“He just did a lot of things that brought attention and business and tourism to the region,” Bidwell said.
He also enjoyed traveling, particularly around New England and Long Island with his family and friends on his boat, the “Yachta, Yachta, Yachta.”
Donna Bowles said that her husband’s first career was as a pharmaceutical representative, but that he’d always wanted to go into business for himself. When they were living in Burlington, Vermont, they became friends with the two men who founded the first Carbur’s sandwich restaurant, which later became a popular chain around New England. When they were living in Rochester, New York, Bowles decided to enter the Carbur’s franchise himself, though he knew nothing about the restaurant business at the time.
“That didn’t bother him in the least,” Donna Bowles said. “He always knew the right people to bring in to do the part of it that wasn’t his thing.”
For a brief time, they lived in Portland, Maine, where Bowles worked at Carbur’s learning the restaurant side of the business. When they moved to the Valley, Bowles opened a Carbur’s in Hadley; his first restaurant business of many to come.
Donna Bowles said that her husband enjoyed mentoring people, and would pass businesses down to those who’d worked for him when he could. He sold Interskate 91 to a manager there, for example.
Chunglo first met Bowles in 1978, and in the ‘80s he supported her run for school committee, hosting a meet and greet for her at his house.
“He was everybody’s friend,” Chunglo said. “Couldn’t ask for a nicer man.”
She recalled when he had served as the moderator for Hadley’s Town Meeting, a position he was elected to in 1991.
“He brought life to our town meeting that year,” she said.
When asked about his civic engagement in both Hadley and Northampton, Fine said that Bowles saw it as one and the same.
“His heart was in our community,” she said. “The community can be a little wider than just a 01060.”
“It all blended together,” said Christopher Bowles, who lives in Connecticut and works in real estate.
He said that he and his brother grew up working on his father’s projects and that he felt his father was heartened to see the family continue on with the birth of his grandson, Christopher’s son.
“He was just enthralled with him,” Donna Bowles said.
Charles Bowles’ life will be celebrated at the Garden House of Look Park in Florence this Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m., with the Czelusniak Funeral Home assisting the family.
“I know he’s enjoying what we’re hearing from everybody,” said Donna Bowles.
Bera Dunau can be reached at bdunau@gazettenet.com.